Best Pet Journal Apps: An Honest Comparison

We make one of these apps, so read this knowing that. To keep it fair, every statement about another app below comes from that app's own App Store or Google Play listing, its website, or a third party we name, checked on 6 October 2026. Where a listing doesn't say, you'll see a dash, not a guess. A dash means "not stated", not "can't". Prices are US App Store prices and ratings are US App Store ratings on that date, and both change.

What to look for

Not every app does all of these, and you may not need all of them.

• A timeline of everything. Walks, food, vet visits, weight and milestones in one feed, in date order.
• Health records. Vaccinations, medications and weight kept together, ideally with the original vet document saved.
• Reading vet documents. Some apps can pull the details off a vet record for you instead of making you type them.
• Reminders. A nudge before a vaccine or a medication is due.
• Sharing. A partner, a kid or a sitter adding to the same journal.
• Export. Your pet's history should come out as a PDF or a file.
• Platform and price. iPhone, iPad, Android; free plan, subscription or lifetime.

The apps at a glance

Features, side by side

Short verdicts

DogLog. The most-rated app in the table, and the one Vetster's guide to at-home pet health tools recommends. Everyone who looks after the dog joins a shared "pack", and you can export data for your vet. Its listing speaks to dog owners.

DogNote. Notes and photos, a weight graph, recurring vaccination reminders and a Family Hub, with PDF export for your vet and an Apple Watch app. A finalist in Newsweek's 2026 Readers' Choice for pet apps.

Pet Care Tracker. Daily activity logs, a vaccination tracker and a diet and weight tracker, for dogs, cats and more than 21 species. Its site says multiple pets are free.

11pets. Built around medical records, with expenses and an Excel export. The free plan covers one pet; more pets and family members come with Premium. Also a Newsweek 2026 finalist.

PetNoter. Vaccination and vet records, reminders and an expense tracker. Its Pro plan adds PDF export and an AI assistant that answers questions from your pet's records and can prepare a summary and questions for the vet.

PetDocs. Uses OCR to read vaccination documents, vet receipts and medication labels, and lets you check the extracted fields before saving. iPhone and iPad only for now.

Pett. Free for two pets, with feeding plans and reminders for every caretaker. AI vet-report scanning and health summaries come with the paid plan.

Also worth a look: PawKit, which says its core features, including family sharing and PDF export, are free; PetVitality, free for up to two pets, with seizure and heat-cycle logs; and GreatPetCare, formerly Pawprint, with free medical records and medication reminders. PetDesk, a winner in Newsweek's 2026 Readers' Choice for pet apps, is built around booking appointments and requesting refills from your pet care providers rather than keeping a journal, so it is left out here.

Where Tamadoggo fits, and where it doesn't

What it does well:

• AI that stays in the background. Snap a printed vet document and it reads the visit, vaccines, medications and weight. You check them, tap Save, and they go onto the timeline with the original attached. Each week it looks for patterns, and once a month it writes you a letter about your pet's month. There is no chat box to talk to. These are Pro features.
• A monthly letter. We didn't find one in any of the other listings above.
• Family sharing on every plan. Up to six people per pet, you included, free.
• Dogs and cats, on iPhone and Android, treated the same way.

Where others do better:

• Ratings. Tamadoggo has no US App Store ratings yet. DogLog, DogNote and Pet Care Tracker have between about 900 and 1,400 each.
• Price. In the app stores, $5.99 a month is the highest monthly price here, and $44.99 a year ties with DogNote. It is $4.99 and $39.99 if you subscribe on the web.
• The free plan. One pet. Pett and PetVitality cover two, and Pet Care Tracker says multiple pets are free.
• No iPad app. DogNote, 11pets, Pet Care Tracker, PetNoter, PetDocs and Pett have one.
• No expense tracking, feeding schedules or Apple Watch app.
• Scanning and PDF export are Pro. PetDocs lets free users try scanning, and PawKit says its PDF export is free.
• One timeline per pet. There is no combined feed across pets, though one moment can be logged once for several of them with Pro.

If that trade sounds right, the pet journal app page shows how it works, and the free plan shows what you get for nothing.

Or skip the app

Plenty of people start with something they already have.

A notes app is free and familiar, but it won't organize a vet record for you. A spreadsheet is tidy and exportable, yet nobody fills one in after a 7am vet run.

The short version

Want the most-rated app in our table? DogLog, DogNote or Pet Care Tracker. Want your vet papers read for you? PetDocs does it with OCR on iPhone; Pett and Tamadoggo use AI on a paid plan, on both platforms. Want more than one pet free? Pett or PetVitality, and Pet Care Tracker's site says multiple pets are free. Want a quiet journal the whole family can keep, that, with Pro, writes you a letter about your pet every month? That's the one we built. Whatever you choose, the best pet journal is the one you'll still be using in a year.

Sources

• Apple App Store, DogLog
• Apple App Store, DogNote
• Apple App Store, Pet Care Tracker Dog Cat Log
• Apple App Store, 11pets: Pet Care
• Apple App Store, PetNoter
• Apple App Store, PetDocs
• Apple App Store, Pett
• Apple App Store, Tamadoggo
• Apple App Store, PawKit
• Apple App Store, PetVitality
• Apple App Store, GreatPetCare
• Apple App Store, PetDesk
• Google Play, DogLog
• Google Play, DogNote
• Google Play, Pet Care Tracker
• Google Play, 11pets
• Google Play, PetNoter
• Google Play, Pett
• Google Play, Tamadoggo
• DogLog, DogLog website
• DogNote, DogNote website
• DogCat App, DogCat.app
• 11pets, Pricing
• 11pets, Features
• PetNoter, PetNoter website and FAQ
• PetDocs, PetDocs website
• Pett, Pett website
• PawKit, PawKit website
• PetVitality, PetVitality website
• GreatPetCare, GreatPetCare Account
• Vetster, The new at-home pet health tracking apps and tools
• Newsweek, Best Pet App 2026
• Google Keep Help, Set up reminders for your notes