Blinko vs flatnotes
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Blinko
AI-assisted card notes, self-hosted or on Blinko Cloud
Free plan · from $5.99/mo
Where they differ
- Blinko starts at $5.99 per month, billed monthly (Blinko Cloud Pro). flatnotes is free.
- Only Blinko lists macOS, Windows, Linux and Android apps.
- Blinko also covers AI search.
- flatnotes also covers linked notes.
In commonFree planWebOpen sourceSelf-hostablePublic APINotesMarkdown
At a glance
| Blinko | flatnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $5.99 per month, billed monthly (Blinko Cloud Pro) | Free |
| Free plan | Blinko Cloud Free: 100 MB of managed storage, a personal blog, nested tags, folders and full-text search, with AI through your own API key. The self-hosted open-source edition is also free. | The whole app is free and open source under the MIT license, with no paid edition. You supply the server, and the developer accepts sponsorship through GitHub Sponsors. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Blinko | Adam Dullage |
| Price read from | blinko.space | github.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Blinko
- Capturing short thoughts quickly and sorting them out later
- AI search over your own notes using your own API key
- Self-hosters who want their notes on their own server
- Publishing selected notes as a personal blog
flatnotes
- Self-hosters who want a simple notes app backed by plain Markdown files
- People who would sooner search and tag than file notes in folders
- Serving a folder of notes read-only as a small blog or docs site
Worth knowing
Blinko
- Blinko Cloud Free includes 100 MB of managed storage; Pro has 10 GB and Pro Plus 25 GB. Cloud plans are billed monthly.
- Custom domains, premium blog themes, the CLI, the developer API and secure sharing are listed under the paid Cloud plans.
- There is no iOS app yet (marked Coming soon), Android is an APK download and the desktop apps are described as preview builds.
- AI features need your own API key or a local model, and self-hosting leaves updates, backups and security to you.
flatnotes
- It has to be self-hosted, with Docker as the recommended route, or run on a third-party host such as PikaPods.
- There are no folders or notebooks by design, and the developer says new features are deliberately limited.
- It is a mobile-responsive web interface only; the project lists no native desktop or mobile apps.
- Uploaded attachments cannot be viewed or deleted from inside the app and are not removed when their note is deleted.
Key features
Blinko
- Blinks and Notes
- A Blink is a quick capture for short-lived thoughts and is archived automatically after a period. A Note is permanent, with rich formatting, and a Blink can be turned into one.
- AI search and chat over your notes
- Retrieval-augmented search answers natural-language questions from your own notes, and a chat lets you ask what you recorded and follow up on a topic.
- AI writing with your own provider
- Selected text can be expanded or polished, and AI can tag notes or process new ones automatically. Providers include OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter and local Ollama models.
- Personal blog and share links
- On Blinko Cloud a note can be published to a personal blog. Share links can carry an expiry time and a password, and shared notes are read-only.
- Self-hosting with Docker
- The open-source edition runs in Docker with a PostgreSQL database, so notes stay on your own server. S3 storage, webhooks, SSO and scheduled backups can be configured.
- Apps and plugins
- Desktop apps add a quick-note window and a text-selection toolbar, the Android app accepts content shared from other apps, and a plugin marketplace adds extras.
flatnotes
- Flat folder of Markdown files
- Notes are .md files in one folder with no database. Files can be added, edited or deleted outside the app while it runs, since only the search index is cached.
- Raw and WYSIWYG editing
- The editor switches between raw Markdown and a WYSIWYG mode. Images can be inserted from the toolbar, dragged in or pasted, and are saved to an attachments folder.
- Full-text search
- Search opens from anywhere with the / key and supports AND and OR, quoted phrases, wildcards and field prefixes for title, content, tags and last-modified date.
- Tags and wikilinks
- A hashtag anywhere in a note tags it, and tags are indexed separately for searching. Double-bracket wikilinks link to other notes by name.
- Authentication modes
- Four modes are offered: none, read-only, username and password, and password plus a time-based one-time code. Read-only suits a blog or documentation site.
- REST API
- A RESTful API is included, with its documentation served at the /docs endpoint of each instance.
Plans
Blinko
Open Source (self-hosted)$0
The open-source edition on your own server. Storage is limited only by your infrastructure, and you manage updates, backups, security and AI providers.
Blinko Cloud Free$0
Hosted Blinko with 100 MB of managed storage, a personal blog, bring-your-own-key AI, nested tags, folders and full-text search.
Blinko Cloud Pro$5.99
per month, billed monthly
10 GB of managed storage, premium blog themes, a custom domain, no Blinko branding, the Blinko CLI, developer API and secure sharing.
Blinko Cloud Pro Plus$10.99
per month, billed monthly
25 GB of managed storage with everything in Pro, for larger note and attachment libraries.
flatnotes
flatnotes$0
The full app, self-hosted with Docker. The README also points to PikaPods, a third-party host, for a hosted instance.
