20 best alternatives to MindMeister as of 2018 - Slant

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MindMup

Top Pro

Frictionless interface

MindMup allows focusing on thoughts and productively capture them without getting in the way. See More

Top Con

Note capacity is limited

MindMup is good for mapping out thoughts that could be summarized in bullet points, but longer notes aren't as practical for this service. See More

Top Pro

Browser-based

Don't need to install anything, just open the website and you are set. See More

Top Con

Unconventional note taking style

It's a mind mapping application, not a traditional text based note storage platform. See More

Top Pro

Just works

Top Pro

Compatible with Google Drive and Github

Top Pro

Easy sharing & presenting

After taking notes, it only takes seconds to share and/or prepare them for presentations. See More

Top Pro

Free and open source

MindMup is free with source code available on GitHub. See More

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32 2

Boostnote

Top Pro

Great for developers

Boostnote is great for developers looking to take programming notes with code snippets and such. See More

Top Con

Some of the features are not consistent

Top Pro

Free

Top Con

Must use third-party service for sync-ing (Dropbox, etc.)

Boostnote does not have sync-ing capabilities and relies on third-party services to fulfil notes storage. There are additional steps involved to set this up. See More

Top Pro

Markdown support

Top Con

Very poor syncing

Data loss may occur on syncing. See More

Top Pro

Supports code snippets and syntax highlighting

Boostnote has the ability to store code snippets and comes with syntax highlighting out of the box, supporting many languages. See More

Top Pro

Works offline

Boostnote doesn't require an internet connection to work. You can write notes offline and sync later. See More

Top Pro

Global search, tag feature

Top Pro

Open source

https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote See More

Top Pro

Cross platform support

Supports Windows, macOS and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Comes with many themes

Boostnote comes with many themes out of the box, most of which are popular themes and color schemes for code editors: e.g. 3024, base16, solarized, tomorrow. See More

Top Pro

vim/emacs key bindings available

Boostnote supports vim/emacs key bindings. If you're a developer familiar with either of them, navigation should be easy to pick up. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows/MacOS/Linux/Andoid/iOS

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105 5

Elephant

Top Pro

Only the essentials

Only basic features are added to Elephant so users aren't overloaded with the interface. See More

Top Con

No mobile app

No mobile apps (can use common sync tools to edit plain files, though). See More

Top Pro

Files are stored locally

Instead of moving files over the cloud, files are stored locally for extra privacy. For syncing, any cloud service can be used. See More

Top Con

No WYSIWYG editor

Top Pro

Open source

All features can be used or edited at will for free. See More

Top Con

Light on features

While not labeled a beta, Elephant is a new note program and doesn't offer all the bells and whistles. See More

Top Pro

Markdown supported

This can be useful when formatting files in HTML. See More

Top Pro

Files can be uploaded by drag'n'drop

Top Pro

Highly compatible

Elephant is compatible with Mac OS, Windows, and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Active development

The developer has replied, and added many features which users have suggested in the comments on the website. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; Linux; OSX

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25 0

Coggle

Top Pro

Supports Markdown (their own variant)

Markdown is a plain text formatting syntax designed so that it can optionally be converted to HTML using a tool by the same name. See More

Top Con

Tree relations only; no non-parent links

Coggle's model allows a node to have multiple children, but only one parent, and no other connections of any sort. See More

Top Pro

Collaborative

Coggle allows inviting friends and colleagues to work collaboratively on notes and diagrams in real-time. See More

Top Con

Unconventional note taking style

Coggle is a mind mapping application, not a traditional text based note storage platform. See More

Top Pro

Pretty diagrams

No effort to create beautiful diagrams. See More

Top Pro

Supports LaTeX

LaTeX is a document preparation system and document markup language. It is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents. See More

Top Pro

Allows easy color-coding of paths

Top Pro

Versioning support

Enter history mode to view all changes to a diagram over time, and make a copy from that point. See More

Top Pro

Optional Chrome store App

Top Pro

Free

Top Pro

Lots of export options

Exports to PDF, image, plaintext and .mm files. See More

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17 2

Org-mode

Top Pro

Very flexible

Org-mode is characterized by a flexible and versatile system with adaptability to different workflows, making it comparable as an Evernote alternative. It is at once simple and complex., which helps it to compete as an Evernote alternative. See More

Top Con

Difficult to learn

Org-mode has a difficult learning curve since you have to learn all the keybindings and commands. It's especially difficult if you are not used to Emacs. See More

Top Pro

Versioning can be tracked and synced using Git or other VCS

Org files are plain text, and lend themselves well to version control. Emacs also has good integrations for various VCS. See More

Top Pro

Built-in agenda

Org-mode has some built-in agenda functionality. You can schedule tasks and assign various degrees of importance to each of them. Org-mode agenda can also be synced with Google Calendar. See More

Top Pro

Basic spreadsheet functionality

Org-mode has some basic spreadsheet functionality. Other than auto-formatting ASCII tables (a notoriously annoying problem), it also has support for LISP-like syntax to define equations or any other functionality that can be achieved through spreadsheets. See More

Top Pro

Great sync support

Notes and to-dos can be synced with Trello, Toodledo, Simplenote, Orgmobile, or with tools like Git on Github, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Bitbucket, while WebDAV (with iOS and Android) can also be exported to PDF, mind map, LaTeX, HTML, Docbook, or txt. See More

Top Pro

Out-of-the-box Latex support

Org-mode has out-of-the-box support for Latex: it can immediately parse equations (or other Latex markup) and can even compile notes to PDF or HTML. See More

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47 3

Notion

Top Pro

Does a great job with both notes and to-dos

To-dos in Notion aren't just dot point lists. You can drag and drop them into columns just like Trello (Kanban style), you can have sub-tasks, and you can easily mark things off as completed so they are no longer in your way. Notes are also powerful, with proper formatting and ways to manage and search for them, which makes it a great Evernote alternative. See More

Top Con

Designed with teams in mind, and less formatting than Evernote.

Evernote may be more individual-oriented and has more formatting and such options available, but whether that affects you is down to personal preference. Try both and see which you prefer. See More

Top Pro

Awesome for wikis

You can easily start writing a bunch of web pages, share it with co-workers and choose whether to publicize or keep your contents private. It's also easy to hyperlink pages. See More

Top Pro

Pages within pages within pages, to infinity

You can have a ridiculous amount of information within a single note. Look at how it works, you'll be surprised! See More

Top Pro

Full-featured on desktop, mobile and web

Even the right-click menus on the web are the same as the app. See More

Top Pro

Unlike anything else

One of the most complete applications one can use to build a personal dashboard (or professional) and migrate all other services to it. No more calendar, task, notes, financials, lists, writing and wiki apps, just Notion. See More

Top Pro

Flexible contents storage and organization

You can upload files and embed online stuff in any hierarchical structure using pages, toggle lists, etc. See More

Top Pro

Quick and effective search

Just type in a word and you'll have results in no time at all. See More

Top Pro

Highly visual, with icons next to every new page and so on.

This feature makes it very easy to find certain notes and such. And great for visual people as well. You could also add images as icons instead, if you like. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, MacOS, iOS, Web

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14 1

Mobisle Notes

Top Con

Major limitations for free users

Free users are not able to share their notes via direct URL, they cannot sync notes over devices, and they have to deal with ads at the bottom of every note. See More

Top Pro

Clean, user-friendly, stylish interface

Mobisle Notes does not overwhelm the user with options like due-dates and prioritization like other apps do. It doesn't clutter the screen with buttons that are never used. The basic interface is just a plain and simple notepad. Android lacks a default notepad app. Of all the basic notepad apps on Android, Mobisle Notes is the most beautiful, and the perfect fill-in for anyone looking for something similar to the iPhone's default notepad app. See More

Top Pro

Checklists

The most common use for a notepad app is as a quick checklist. Mobisle Notes lets you switch to checklist mode with a button press, so you can easily mark things as done, rather than having to delete all the text. See More

Specs

Platforms:iOS; Android

30 3

NoteLedge

Top Pro

Essential brush kit

NoteLedge comes with 6 built-in brushes (pencil, crayon, spray gun, ink brush, pigment liner and fountain pen) for versatile note-taking purposes. You can get advanced pens like vector brush, smart pen for shape recognition, marker and rainbow brush through subscription or in-app purchase. See More

Top Con

Not available for Linux

Top Pro

Cross-platform

NoteLedge is available on iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android, Windows Phone and Windows 8. See More

Top Pro

Clip everything from the Web to your notes

There's a built in browser where you can select and paste texts to your notes, clip images, clip and ember online videos and audio clips, or crop screenshots on webpages. It's very useful for collecting information from the web. See More

Top Pro

Multimedia supported

It is possible to record or insert videos, record audio, and take notes simultaneously. It is easy to put text, handwriting, drawings, audio and video recordings altogether in one note. See More

Top Pro

Personalize your own notebook

NoteLedge comes with tons of built-in papers, covers and stickers. You can also customize your own paper, cover or stickers with your own photos. It's easy to make scrapbook style notes with NoteLedge. See More

Top Pro

Share and back up notes easily

NoteLedge supports major cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Box. Additionally, you can use the developer's own cloud service, Kdan Creative Cloud, to sync and access the notes across device with ease. You can share notes as images on Facebook, Twitter, or Email. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows; OSX; iOS; Android

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18 2

Memosnag

Top Con

Comments can only be written in Latin script

You cannot add comments in Cyrillic, or Hebrew, or any language that uses symbols other than the Latin alphabet. See More

Top Pro

Extremely simple and intuitive

The plugin is very easy to use. The social-media-like page layout makes it easy to navigate, while the drag-drop functionality, used to organize your content, is highly intuitive as an Evernote alternative. See More

Top Con

Does not work well for note taking

Memosnag is only for saving/sharing content you've found online (sites, videos, etc.). See More

Top Pro

Automatic citations save time

Memosnag creates citations automatically, which saves the user a ton of time. See More

Top Pro

Lets you save pretty much everything online

Unlike other clippers, memosnag allows you to save pretty much everything online in one simple click. That includes images, YouTube videos, websites, etc, which makes it a good Evernote alternative in this area. See More

12 2

Zim

Top Pro

Allows for organized, wiki-style navigation

Notes can contain links to other notes, allowing you to reference important information when needed. This way the user can connect and reference many different pages in the app, keeping things clean and structured, unlike Evernote, which makes this a good Evernote alternative. See More

Top Con

No native sync support

Zim notes don't automatically synchronize with other devices or offer built-in cloud sync support. Of course the user can add the files to Dropbox, or something similar, to then open them on another device with the app installed. But this is more of a work-around than a built-in solution. See More

Top Pro

Plain text data format rather than proprietary

If/when the app is no longer developed (or if the user simply decides to no longer use the application or view/edit it on a non-supported platform), this can still be done with any plain-text editor. See More

Top Con

No mobile app support

This is a desktop app and there are no mobile versions available. This can make it more difficult to use on-the-go if using cloud storage to store files from the app, as there is no mobile app version to access those files. See More

Top Pro

Automatically manages files and folders

Zim will automatically create a folder structure that fits your page hierarchy and adds/removes files such as images to/from appropriate folders. See More

Top Con

Looks ancient

Zim has a very plain and outdated interface. See More

Top Pro

Good export options

Zim supports HTML, LaTeX, Pandoc Markdown, and RST. This allows ones documents to be easily used in a wide selection of other apps. See More

Top Pro

Support for multiple platforms

Windows, Linux, and BSD are supported with their own clients. This is nice for those that use multiple operating systems but still want to use the same app on each. See More

Specs

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39 7

Turtl

Top Pro

Good security

After assigning a password to your account in Turtl, a key is created to encrypt the entire account. No data is stored on their servers meaning they have no access to unencrypted content. This is a huge leg up when comparing to other Evernote alternatives. See More

Top Con

No image embedding

Instead of image embeddings, there's a sort of poor man's substitute: image + description. If you add an image, you can create a description of any size and with all the formatting features. It can be used instead of image embedding but much more limited: only one image and only at the very top. See More

Top Pro

Multiple Platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Firefox, Chrome)

Turtl has applications for all the major operating systems, as well as Android. In addition, there are extensions available for Firefox and Chrome that cooperate with the downloadable applications. See More

Top Con

No iOS app

While many other operating systems have a client, iOS does not have one yet (though it is planned). See More

Top Pro

Open source

The app is licensed under GPLv3 making it open source. This means that anyone can use the code and contribute. This also makes it easy to use on one's own server or for company solutions. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Android

Cross Platform:yes

59 10

Quip

Top Pro

Amazing mobile interface

Unlike other mobile apps, Quip has really innovated the text editor on mobile, making for a good Evernote alternative. It has a great interface for formatting text that stays out of your road so to maximize how much room you have to type. See More

Top Con

Not really free with stringent controls on trial

The trial is content limited which means if you start using it quite a bit they'll pick the perfect moment to swoop in and start charging you. It's better for them because it means they can look at your account and pick the best time to ask you to pay (hey we notice you're using Quip lots and have a new project you just started how about you pay now or you lose everything). See More

Top Pro

Offline editing

Quip allows for offline editing of documents which then sync upon connection to Wi-Fi. This way users can continuing working while not connected to a data signal, but they can still back up their work when they do finally get one. See More

Top Con

Limited formatting on spreadsheets

Within spreadsheet cells, you can't do things like, for example, taking part of the text and aligning it to the center or to the left. Furthermore, in the mobile app, you can't jump to the next line to keep writing inside the same cell. See More

Top Pro

Private document sharing

Files can be shared with others via a URL. The owner of the shared document can set it to be in read-only mode or they can allow anyone to edit it. Collaborators don't need to have a Quip account to participate. This feature makes for a great Evernote alternative, for those looking for a different app that has this similar function. See More

Top Con

Can't rename files

You can't really rename documents per se in Quip. What you do is put the first line of the document as its title, so that it is displayed on the main list of documents on the app. The program suggests to combine it with a HL (Large Heading) format. See More

Top Pro

Highly compatible

Quip can export documents to several formats, including .DOC, .PDF, .HTML, as well as a couple of others. This allows for compatibility with a wide selection of other apps. See More

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52 11

Simplenote

Top Pro

Geared towards fast usage

Unlike alternatives (such as Evernote) that are laden with features, Simplenote is fast to use and sync. Reviews from the Verge, Lifehacker, and a variety of other sources all describe using the Simplenote apps as very fast. While it may not be as feature-rich as other apps, the responsiveness of the app and simple interface keep it easy to use while never slowing down the user when they need to quickly take a note. See More

Top Con

Search is limited to one tag

There seems to be no way to find notes that have both tag X and tag Y. This isn't a big deal until you have a large library of notes, and want to cross-search for two things at the same time to vastly narrow down your search. See More

Top Pro

"Time machine" style revision control on the notes

Each edit of a note is saved in order to allow the user to go back to a previous version of a document. This way, if mistakes are made or something is deleted, you can go back to the previous version without any hassle. See More

Top Con

Limited ways to reorder notes

You are able to sort your notes alphabetically, date modified, or by last created. There is no way to drag and drop the notes to create a custom order. See More

Top Pro

Very simple and clean interface

Simplenote takes a minimalist approach to its interface. There are no toolbars full of formatting options or extra features like notebooks to group notes. The entire desktop interface consists solely of a sidebar with your tags and trash filters, the list of existing notes with search, a button to add a new note and a simple view for looking an existing note or writing a new one. See More

Top Con

No widgets on Android

There is no way to view a list of the notes in Simplenote via a Widget on Android. See More

Top Pro

Works offline

Users can edit and create documents offline, can then sync their content the next time they are online. This way a user can work even when there's no data connection without the worry of losing work. See More

Top Con

No support for file attachments

Simplenote doesn't provide support for embedded attachments. This can limit the use for some as many other note-taking apps do support this type of feature. See More

Top Pro

Markdown support via web interface

There is support for Markdown when using the web app. This can be convenient for those who want to use Markdown in a particular note. See More

Top Con

No reminders

You cannot set reminders to revisit a specific note or complete a task. See More

Top Pro

Wide range of great clients with great sync

Official native apps are available on popular platforms such as Android, iPhone, iPad, Kindle, OS X, Windows and Linux. Open-source clients extend this support even more widely to various other platforms, such as webOS and the BlackBerry PlayBook. These apps embody the core philosophy of Simplenote: minimalism and focus on the note taking. There are multiple unofficial clients (including the excellent Notational Velocity and NValt, a fork of the app with markdown support and other goodies.) See More

Top Con

No 32-bit version

Top Pro

Can export your data

The program enables exporting of notes as text documents. See More

Top Con

No way to import notes from anywhere

Top Pro

Linux client available

Top Con

The search function doesn't see tags

If you search for 'foo' you won't find notes with tag foo. In that regard, tags are completely isolated from the search. See More

Top Pro

Desktop app is open source

The desktop version of Simplenote is hosted on the GitHub and since it is open source, it can allow developers to fork the code in order to improve the app. See More

Top Con

No way to bulk-apply a tag

This is a typical workflow action in other apps: Do a search, multi-select notes among the matches, then apply or de-apply one or more tags to all these notes at once. There's no way to do this in Simplenote. The only bulk operations are Delete and Pin-to-top. See More

Top Pro

Excellent iOS app

Top Con

No notification when changes made on a shared note

Currently, there is no way to be alerted when a change is made by another contributor on a shared note. See More

Top Pro

Collaborative features

Notes can be shared with others or worked on collaboratively. See More

Top Con

Save-to-disk feature is poor

The only way to download your data off Simplenote is via a "download zip" feature that unfortunately loses all the semantic structure of your data (tags, for instance). See More

Top Pro

Excellent desktop client in the form of nvAlt

Top Con

No integrated social media sharing

The only way you can share notes with others is with a link you're given when you publish your note. There is no integrated social media sharing if you directly want to post your note to Twitter, Facebook, etc. See More

Top Con

Lack of color impacts usability

There are two themes available, the default theme and a dark theme. Both use only the single solid color (either white or black) for the background, so there is a lack of visual cues to separate what you're looking at. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android / iOS / OSX / Windows / Linux

Collaborative:yes

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208 46

Workflowy

Top Pro

Outline-style hierarchy with zoom

Any sublist can be viewed as a top-level list. This sounds simple but makes WorkFlowy extremely powerful. For example, the same line item, "write my book," can simultaneously be a to-do in a task list and the container for an entire working document. See More

Top Con

Inconvenient interface

Notes automatically collapse, making them unreadable without user interaction. You cannot view multiple long notes at once. See More

Top Pro

Minimalistic interface

Interface has no clutter. It allows focusing on thoughts to note down. This keeps things simple and easy to understand, which can help keep everything organized in an intuitive manner. See More

Top Con

No color coding

It's a black and white interface without the ability to differentiate based on color. See More

Top Pro

Easy to see an overview and organize notes

All notes are part of a list, which makes it easy to organize everything. Nested lists allow for organizing notes into hierarchical categories of infinite depth. All lists can be folded. WorkFlowy also has tags and instant full-text search. See More

Top Con

No public API

Top Pro

Tasks can be added and manipulated quickly

WorkFlowy allows entering many tasks very quickly – especially useful for meeting minutes or a "brain dump" when you have to type fast. After typing in all your thoughts, it's very easy to organize and sort multiple groups at once. See More

Top Con

Offline desktop app requires Chrome

The offline desktop requires installing Google Chrome first before the WorkFlowy app can be installed. This is not good news for non-Chrome users especially users who frequently uses Firefox or Safari as their default browsers, in which Chrome app also suffers memory leak and battery issues. See More

Top Pro

Deep nesting

Workflowy's 'everything is in a tree' interface makes it easy to keep expanding on topics, no matter where, or how deep in the hierarchy they are. See More

Top Con

Doesn't work well in mobile browsers

The functionality of the mobile version of the site is a bit limited, while new features have been added such as the ability to move lines of text, even that is limited on Android to only being functional on Chrome. See More

Top Pro

Super fast sync between devices

While adding a list of to-do on web, it syncs with iPhone and iPad apps very quickly. This way you can jump between devices with no delay of up to date content. See More

Top Con

Doesn't support images

Top Pro

Supports tags

Enables users to search by tags. See More

Top Con

Cannot use link-text

You cannot have text link to a URL. When you link to a website you have to post the full URL instead. Instead of having the name of the website or article like, Slant, you instead have to post http://slant.co. It's especially annoying if you have a long URL that takes up a lot of space in the document. See More

Top Pro

Quickly focus on a specific topic

Enables users to focus on specific topic area, which is referred to as "hoisting" within Workflowy. See More

Top Con

Infrequent updates and new features

WorkFlowy works well but it is hardly ever updated, in comparison to Dynalist, which works in a very similar way but has more features and is updated weekly. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform web and mobile

WorkFlowy can be accessed from either a browser or their apps, which include a Chrome app for desktops as well as an iOS and Android app. This makes it easy to access ones notes no matter the platform or device being used. See More

Top Con

Doesn't work on all mobile phones

Not compatible with Android OS version 4.1 and 4.2. See More

Top Pro

Import and export via OPML

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is a commonly used standard for text exchange. With two-way support for OPML you are never locked into Workflowy. Importing/exporting via copy/paste of entire outlines is a snap. See More

Top Con

Only supports one big text file

Although with Workflowy's focus feature this can work, you might prefer managing separate text files. See More

Top Pro

Text formatting

You can have bold, italic, and underlined text. See More

Top Pro

Strong community

There are number of talented coders who help customize WorkFlowy with extensions and styles. It has an active blog and welcomes collaboration. See More

Top Pro

Daily digest email

WorkFlowy can send you an email with that day's activity. It's a great way to track progress. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android / iOS / Web

Collaborative:yes

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112 28

TiddlyWiki

Top Pro

Free and Open Source

No commercial interests, no ads, no registration, no nonsense. You own your notes 100%. See More

Top Con

Without JavaScript nothing is visible

Top Pro

Lots of plugins

Top Con

Relies on browser performance, online or offline

TiddlyWiki is a single HTML file. Thus, if you directly embed e. g large images or videos in it (instead of using the features to display externally stored images and videos) it would make the file big and performance slow. See More

Top Pro

Extremely customizable

This is a major aim and point with TiddlyWiki; people can relatively easily modify it to fit their particular application needs. See More

Top Pro

Self-hosted and indefinitely accessible

All content is stored within the same html file as the interface. See More

Top Pro

Single html file

It's a single file and all your notes will be "accessible even in 25 years" because they can be seen in plain html text. See More

Top Pro

10+ years mature

Mature software, active community with members from all over the world. See More

Top Pro

Relational links

Allows for relational links and lists between notes to keep things organized. See More

Top Pro

Progressive user level, from ease of use to programming your own plugins

Basic users can start with simple note-taking, progressively discover predefined features and existing plugins, then start using more fancy features (like filters, widgets, macros), in order to adapt their wiki to their needs. See More

Top Pro

Multiple, user-defined usages

The list of possible usages is practically infinite in TW, and more importantly it lets the user define their own method of dealing with their content. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android

Collaborative:No

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76 21

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