Dynalist vs Roam Research
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Dynalist
Outlining app for nested lists, notes and tasks
Roam Research
Outliner for networked notes with bidirectional links
Where they differ
- Dynalist starts at $7.99 per month, billed annually ($95.88 per year). Roam Research starts at $15 per month, or $165 per year ($13.75 a month).
- Dynalist has a free plan. Roam Research does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Dynalist lists Windows, Linux and Android apps.
- Only Dynalist lists a browser extension.
- Dynalist also covers Markdown, web clipper and tasks.
- Roam Research also covers daily notes.
At a glance
| Dynalist | Roam Research | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $7.99 per month, billed annually ($95.88 per year) | $15 per month, or $165 per year ($13.75 a month) |
| Free plan | Unlimited items and documents, internal links, Markdown, dates, tags, checklists, sharing and collaboration, export and import, and 5 bookmarks. | None |
| Free trial | 14-day Pro trial, unlocked by completing the onboarding tutorial | 31-day free trial, available only if you have never had a plan. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Dynalist | Roam Research, Inc. |
| Price read from | dynalist.io | frontdeskreview.com (not the vendor's own page) |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Dynalist
- People who think in outlines and nested bullet lists
- Mixing notes with dated tasks in the same list
- A free outliner with no cap on items or documents
Roam Research
- People who work from daily notes and want every block to be linkable
- Researchers who reference and reuse individual blocks across notes
- Groups sharing a graph who do not want to pay per collaborator
Worth knowing
Dynalist
- The free plan allows 5 bookmarks and leaves out file attachments, version history, recurring dates and Google Calendar sync.
- The changelog's most recent major feature entry is dated June 2020, and the site footer carries a 2021 copyright.
- File attachments need Pro and are limited to 50 MB per file.
- The terms of service say a paid account can be cancelled at any time but is not refunded.
Roam Research
- There is no free plan; after the 31-day trial a paid subscription is required.
- The lowest monthly-equivalent price, the Believer plan, is a single $500 payment covering 5 years.
- The local API used by the official MCP server and CLI works only in the desktop app, not the web version.
Key features
Dynalist
- Outlines with notes, tags and colors
- Content is arranged as nested bullets that can carry a note, tags and a color label, and lists can be sorted, numbered and edited several items at a time.
- Dates and checklists
- Any list can become a checklist, and items can be given dates and filtered by them. Recurring dates and Google Calendar sync are Pro features.
- Cross-linking and backlinks
- Items and documents can link to one another, and an option shows the number of links pointing at an item along with its references.
- Markdown formatting
- Supports bold, italics, code, images, links and LaTeX, typed as Markdown inside any item.
- Sharing and public lists
- Documents are shared with collaborators under adjustable permissions, or published so visitors can read them without signing up.
- Export, version history and backup
- Exports to OPML, plain text or formatted text on every plan. Version history and daily backups to Dropbox or Google Drive need Pro.
Roam Research
- Bidirectional links and block references
- Pages link to each other in both directions, and individual blocks can be referenced from other notes.
- Daily notes
- Writing starts in a dated daily note, and links from there connect entries to the rest of the graph.
- Hosted, offline and encrypted graphs
- A graph can be hosted in Roam's cloud or kept offline as a local-only graph, and graphs can be encrypted. Paid plans allow unlimited private or public graphs.
- Shared graphs
- Plans include unlimited collaborators with no per-seat charge, and a graph can be edited on mobile and in the web app at the same time.
- Roam Depot extensions
- A marketplace of community-built extensions, which developers submit through GitHub pull requests.
- MCP server, CLI and SDKs
- An official MCP server and command-line tool connect Claude, Cursor and other AI assistants to a graph to read, write, search and query it.
Plans
Dynalist
Free$0
Unlimited items and documents, internal linking, Markdown, dates, tags, checklists, sharing, export and import, with 5 bookmarks.
Pro$7.99
per month, billed annually ($95.88); $9.99 billed monthly
Adds Google Calendar integration, capture to inbox, recurring dates, unlimited bookmarks, file attachments, version history and daily backups.
Roam Research
Pro$15
per month, or $165 per year
Unlimited private or public graphs, unlimited collaborators, and API access and apps.
Believer$500
one payment for 5 years ($8.33 a month)
Everything in Pro, plus first access to new features, community calls with the team and priority support.
Ways to pay less
Dynalist
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
Pro costs $95.88 a year on annual billing, which works out to $7.99 a month against $9.99 billed monthly. The pricing page labels this 20% off.
- Education
50% off Pro for students
Students can request a 50% discount on Dynalist Pro by emailing from a school address. The discount has to be renewed every year.
- Other savings
Referral credit toward Pro
Each friend who signs up through an invite link earns $5 of Dynalist Pro credit, which can cover up to half of each payment.
Roam Research
No public discounts listed.
