A local-first infinite canvas for PDF highlights and video notes

neove — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:43:08 +0000

Most note apps still assume a note is a page. That works until the job is to keep a PDF, a lecture recording, and your own comments in one place and move a sentence from one topic to another.
Most note apps still assume a note is a page. That works until the job is to keep a PDF, a lecture recording, and your own comments in one place and move a sentence from one topic to another.I built Flexnote for that job. It is a local-first note app: an infinite canvas, Markdown cards, bidirectional links, a tag database, PDF highlighting, and timestamp notes on video. Notes stay on the machine unless you turn sync on.
What “local-first” means here
Files are stored on the device. Editing works offline. Sync is off until you connect your own target: WebDAV (including Nextcloud), S3, OneDrive, or Baidu Netdisk. Credentials stay with you. Flexnote does not train models on your notes.Desktop apps are available for Windows 10+ and macOS 11+. An Android app is available. The website can preview a published whiteboard. A full web app and an iOS app are not shipping yet.
The canvas is the workspace, not a plugin
A card can be a Markdown note, a PDF, a video, a web clip, or a todo. You place cards on a board, pan and zoom, and draw links between them. The same board can be read as a mind map.A tag database sits on those cards. Custom fields, filters, list view, and kanban are views of the same cards, not a second copy of the library.The canvas renderer is our own. Panning stays responsive with large boards; the product target is smooth interaction past 10,000 nodes.
PDF highlights and video timestamps become cards
Drop a PDF on the board and highlight it there. A highlight can become a card that links back to the page, so an excerpt is something you can move next to another paper instead of a mark trapped in one file.Video works the same way. Local files and major online sources, including YouTube, can take timestamp notes. The highlight keeps the time and a frame, and the card can sit on the canvas next to the PDF and your written notes.Web clipping saves a page’s title, text, and images as a card.
AI is optional and uses your key
Flexnote AI is a knowledge-base assistant: cited answers from your notes, summaries, translation, mind maps, and edits on the current whiteboard (sticky notes, links, groups). Chat uses an API key you provide, including DeepSeek and other OpenAI-compatible providers. Semantic indexing is metered separately from chat. Pro plans include 3,000 index points.If you do not want AI, the canvas, files, and local storage do not depend on it.
What the free plan includes
The free plan is 3 whiteboards, 100 cards, the basic canvas, and local storage on one device. Pro adds unlimited boards and cards, AI, cloud sync, and more than one device. There is also a lifetime license. Current prices are on the pricing page.One hundred cards is enough to judge whether a board fits the work. If the job is a long document, a team wiki, or a flashcard queue, this is the wrong tool.
Where it fits, and where it does not
Use it when source material is mixed — papers, lecture video, clips from the web — and you still need to arrange the excerpts yourself.Skip it if you need realtime multiplayer editing, a company knowledge base, or an open file format you can grep in a repo. Sync here moves a library between your own devices. It is not simultaneous collaboration. Publishing a board creates a view link; it does not turn the canvas into a shared editor.Download for Windows, macOS, or Android: myflexnote.com/download. Documentation: wiki.myflexnote.com.

Flexnote vs Heptabase: Which Visual Note-Taking Tool Is Better in 2026?

neove — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 12:27:40 +0000

If you're looking for a "cards + infinite whiteboard" visual note-taking tool, both Heptabase and Flexnote will likely show up — and if you're specifically searching for the best Heptabase alternatives, Flexnote is one of the names that comes up most. They look similar — cards hold the content, and an endlessly pannable canvas lets you arrange ideas spatially — but they optimize for different things. This article won't crown an absolute winner; it lays out the key differences so you can choose based on your own needs.

Flexnote vs Heptabase interface comparison

1. Positioning: both built for deep learning and research

Their target audiences overlap heavily — both are built for deep learning and research, helping you connect scattered cards into a system on the whiteboard for literature reviews, course notes, and long-running research. Heptabase has a mature toolset and an active community, and is deeply polished around "thinking complex topics through."

Flexnote is built for the same deep-learning and research use, but takes a different path: it's local-first, leans harder on data privacy and ownership, and pairs that with a self-built high-performance canvas, broader annotation, and a one-time-purchase option — a lighter, more self-directed take on the same "research whiteboard."

2. Canvas and performance: same shape, different foundation

The base unit in both is the card, and both support Markdown, bidirectional links, and free arrangement and linking on a whiteboard. But the rendering foundation is a key difference: Heptabase renders the canvas with DOM-based web technology, while Flexnote uses a self-built high-performance Canvas engine. When a board grows to hundreds of cards with heavy zooming and dragging, a Canvas approach usually stays smoother.

Flexnote's self-built Canvas staying smooth on a large board

Who it's for

If your boards keep growing to hundreds of cards, the rendering performance gap becomes noticeable in everyday zooming and panning.

3. Annotation: more than PDF

Research lives on annotating your source material, and here the gap is clear. Flexnote can annotate cards, PDFs, video (including YouTube), and audio — whether your material is a paper, a course video, or a podcast, you can highlight and take notes right on the source and link back to the canvas. Heptabase currently supports PDF annotation only.

Flexnote annotating PDF / video / audio

Who it's for

If your sources include lots of video or audio (courses, lectures, podcasts), Flexnote's multimedia annotation noticeably speeds up organizing them.

4. Local-first, privacy, and publishing

This is where the two differ most in spirit.

Heptabase: requires an account and online login to use, with the account tied to the cloud; data exports to Markdown and JSON, but a copy is kept on servers and there is currently no end-to-end encryption.
Flexnote: local-first — you can use it locally without a mandatory online login, and data stays in your hands by default. For cross-device sharing it syncs through third-party cloud storage like Baidu Cloud, OneDrive, S3, and WebDAV, so you decide where your data lives.

Local-first doesn't mean closed off: Flexnote can publish a whiteboard to the web, generating a link anyone can open in a browser, and supports exporting to PDF and other formats — keeping data ownership without giving up sharing.

A published whiteboard viewed via link in the browser

5. Platforms and collaboration

Heptabase offers Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and Web, plus collaborator invites. Flexnote offers Windows / macOS desktop and mobile apps for capturing and reviewing on the go.

6. Pricing

For many people this is the deciding factor, and it differs a lot.

Heptabase: subscription only, no permanent free tier, with a 7-day trial. Pro is about $8.99/mo billed yearly; more AI credits come via Premium ($17.99/mo) or Premium+ ($53.99/mo).
Flexnote: has a permanent free tier (100 cards, local storage, single device); paid plans are Pro at $29/quarter or $49/year, plus a $149 one-time lifetime license.

7. At a glance

Dimension	Flexnote	Heptabase
Positioning	Deep learning & research	Deep learning & research
Core model	Cards + infinite canvas	Cards + infinite whiteboard
Rendering & performance	Self-built high-performance Canvas engine	DOM-based web rendering
Annotation	Cards / PDF / video (incl. YouTube) / audio	PDF only
Usage & privacy	Local-first, no forced online login	Account + online login required (no E2E)
Third-party cloud sync	Baidu Cloud / OneDrive / S3 / WebDAV	Official cloud sync
Publish / export	Publish boards to the web (link) · export PDF, etc.	Whiteboard sharing
Mobile	Desktop + mobile	iOS / Android
Free tier	Yes (100 cards)	No (7-day trial)
Subscription	$29/qtr · $49/yr	From ~$8.99/mo (yearly)
One-time purchase	$149 lifetime	Not available

8. How to choose

Both are built for deep learning and research. If you value a mature ecosystem and AI tooling and full cross-platform collaboration, and don't mind a subscription, Heptabase is a proven, reliable choice.

If you value canvas performance (large boards staying smooth), need full annotation across cards, PDFs, video, and audio, care about local-first data privacy, want to sync across devices flexibly via third-party cloud storage, and prefer starting free or buying once, then Flexnote fits your workflow better and costs less over time.

The two aren't mutually exclusive — they represent two reasonable trade-offs within the same "whiteboard notes" category. The best move is to run your real note-taking scenario through each one's free tier or trial.

Originally published at:
https://myflexnote.com/blog/flexnote-vs-heptabase

DEV Community: neove