Heptabase alternative for acting on your notes.

Heptabase organizes notes; Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is a desktop AI assistant that acts on what they say.

How we put this list together: Jarvis is our product — this site is getjarvis.eu — so check the sourced facts yourself rather than taking our framing on trust. Every price and tier name on this page was checked in July 2026 against the vendors' own public pricing pages (heptabase.com/pricing, obsidian.md/pricing, tana.inc/pricing, notion.com/pricing). Where a vendor does not publish something — Heptabase's non-discounted monthly rate (its page shows only the 25%-off annualized 'per month' price), whether Tana's displayed USD pricing matches what EU visitors see, Notion's exact seat-based total beyond its per-member price, or the underlying AI model providers behind Heptabase's AI credits, Tana's AI queries and meeting agent, and Notion AI — we say so rather than quoting a number. Each named limitation is drawn from the same vendor pages, not from third-party reviews. Heptabase, Obsidian, Tana, and Notion AI are visual or structured knowledge-management tools built around a canvas, local files, an outliner, or a workspace. Jarvis is a screen-aware action assistant — a different category — and is included here as context, not as a competing note-taking pick.

1. Heptabase — Visual knowledge base built around an infinite whiteboard of cards, mind maps, and spatial links, aimed at researchers and students synthesizing complex material. Pricing: Pro $8.99/month (annual billing, 25% off vs monthly), including 100 AI credits/month; Premium $17.99/month (annual), including 1,800 AI credits/month plus an AI tutor and PDF OCR; Premium+ $53.99/month (annual), including 8,100 AI credits/month and 33% off extra credits. The page shows only the annualized 'per month' price with a 'Save 25%' banner — the non-discounted monthly rate isn't itemized. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Web app plus native Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android apps per heptabase.com — not independently re-verified beyond the pricing page. Known limitation: Canvas/whiteboard-first design: it organizes notes spatially but does not read your screen or take actions in other apps — everything happens inside Heptabase's own whiteboard. Pick Heptabase if: you think visually and want a mind-mapping canvas for research or coursework, not an assistant that acts across your other apps. 2. Obsidian — Local-first Markdown note-taking app with a plugin ecosystem and graph view; the core app is free and stores files as plain Markdown on disk. Pricing: Core app: free, no account required. Optional add-ons: Sync $4/month (billed yearly) or $5/month (billed monthly); Publish $8/month (billed yearly) or $10/month (billed monthly); Catalyst one-time $25; Commercial license $50/user/year for organizational use. 40% discount for students/faculty/nonprofits on Sync/Publish; 7-day refund window on those add-ons only. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, per obsidian.md. Known limitation: No native AI or cross-app actions — any AI behavior depends entirely on installing and configuring third-party plugins, and there's no built-in screen-reading or automation. Pick Obsidian if: you want full local ownership of your notes as plain Markdown files and are willing to assemble your own plugin stack for AI, rather than a ready-made assistant. 3. Tana — AI-native outliner that organizes information as nodes and 'supertags' to build structured databases and workflows, positioned at power users building second-brain systems and, per its current pricing page, meeting and agent workflows. Pricing: Free: $0 — 5 hosted meetings/month, 1 calendar connection, 50 AI queries. Pro: $20/month early-bird (regular $30/month) — unlimited hosted meetings, meeting agent, integrations/MCP. Max: $80/month early-bird (regular $120/month) — 5x the AI of Pro. Business: custom pricing, aimed at SSO/SOC2/HIPAA. 30-day free trial, no card required; 60-day refund window on yearly plans. Tana's page showed USD pricing at the time we checked — confirm your region's currency before quoting a figure. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Web app; desktop apps are referenced on tana.inc but not independently re-verified beyond the pricing page. Known limitation: Built around its own outliner/node workspace — integrations exist but the product is designed for you to work inside Tana's structure rather than to read and act across whatever app is on your screen. Pick Tana if: you want a structured, database-like outliner with tags and supertags for a personal knowledge system, and you're fine paying per-seat AI-query pricing. 4. Notion AI — AI features (chat, meeting notes, search) built into Notion's docs/wiki/database workspace, sold as part of Notion's team plans rather than as a standalone product. Pricing: Free: €0/member/month, limited AI trial. Plus: €9.50/member/month, limited AI trial. Business: €19.50/member/month, full Notion Agent/Meeting Notes/Enterprise Search access. Enterprise: custom, adds zero data retention with LLM providers. Annual billing saves up to 20% vs monthly. Add-ons: Custom Agents at $10 per 1,000 monthly credits; Custom Domains $8/month per domain (annual) or $10/month (monthly). The pricing page displayed EUR per-member pricing at the time we checked — confirm currency and seat count for your account. Checked July 2026. Platforms: Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android per Notion's site — not independently re-verified beyond the pricing page. Known limitation: Notion AI cannot read your desktop screen; it reaches other apps only through Notion-side connectors on Business and Enterprise. Pick Notion AI if: your team already lives in Notion for docs, wikis, and databases and you want AI layered on that same workspace, not a separate cross-app assistant. 5. Jarvis — Not a knowledge canvas or outliner — a different category. Jarvis is an on-demand screen-aware desktop assistant: press Cmd+/ on macOS or Ctrl+/ on Windows and a floating bar screenshots the active window, answers, and acts through 30+ OAuth connectors (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, Microsoft 365). It's listed here as context, not because it competes with Heptabase's canvas, Obsidian's local files, Tana's outliner, or Notion's workspace on their own terms. Pricing: Free: $0 — 40 requests/week. Pro: $16/month ($144/year billed annually). Unlimited: $32/month. Checked July 2026. Platforms: macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows 10+, Linux. Known limitation: It has no whiteboard, outliner, or note database of its own — Jarvis reads and acts on whatever is already on your screen and in your connected apps rather than replacing a knowledge-management tool, and it is cloud-only with no offline mode. Pick Jarvis if: you already have (or don't need) a place to organize notes, and what you actually want is a shortcut that reads your screen and takes action in Gmail, Slack, Notion, and 30+ other apps — not a fourth place to store your thinking.

Why people switch: This isn't a like-for-like swap; You want your assistant to act in other apps, not just hold notes; You want a flat free tier without per-seat or per-credit math; You care about EU data residency.

Pick a competitor instead if: You want a visual canvas for research or coursework — Jarvis has no whiteboard or mind-mapping surface. Heptabase's infinite canvas of cards and spatial links (Pro $8.99/month, Premium $17.99/month, annualized, checked July 2026) is purpose-built for that. You want full local ownership of plain Markdown files — If you want your notes stored as files on disk with no vendor lock-in, Obsidian's free core app plus optional paid Sync/Publish add-ons is the closer fit — Jarvis stores nothing as a personal note archive. You want a structured outliner with a meeting agent — Tana's node-and-supertag outliner with a botless meeting agent for Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet (Free tier, then Pro at $20/month early-bird) is built for second-brain and meeting workflows Jarvis does not attempt. Your team already lives in Notion — If your docs, wikis, and databases are already in Notion, Notion AI's Business tier (€19.50/member/month) layers AI onto that same workspace instead of adding a separate cross-app assistant.

What is the best Heptabase alternative in 2026? Obsidian if you want free, local-first Markdown ownership; Tana if you want a structured outliner with a meeting agent; Notion AI if your team already works in Notion. Jarvis isn't a note-taking alternative at all — it's a screen-aware action assistant, only worth a look if what you actually need is different from a knowledge canvas.

Does Jarvis replace Heptabase's whiteboard? No. Heptabase's infinite canvas, cards, and mind-mapping are its defining strength, and Jarvis has no whiteboard or canvas of its own. Jarvis reads whatever is on your screen and acts through connectors like Notion, but it does not organize or visualize notes the way Heptabase does.

Is there a free Heptabase-style knowledge tool? Obsidian's core app is free with no account required. Tana's free tier includes 50 AI queries and 5 hosted meetings/month. Notion AI's Free plan includes a limited AI trial. Heptabase does not publish a free tier on heptabase.com/pricing — its plans start at Pro.

Which of these work on Windows? Heptabase, Obsidian, and Notion all list Windows apps on their sites. Tana is a web app with desktop apps referenced but not independently verified beyond its pricing page. Jarvis runs on Windows 10+, plus macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Linux.

Does Jarvis do visual mind-mapping like Heptabase? No. Jarvis has no canvas, cards, or spatial linking. It is a floating bar you summon with Cmd+/ or Ctrl+/ that reads your active screen and acts through connectors — a different job than organizing ideas visually.

Alternatives · Heptabase alternatives · Last updated July 28, 2026