Heynote vs Inkdrop

Heynote

• Developers who need a holding place for JSON, logs and code snippets
• Quick calculations and unit conversions next to working notes
• People who want scratch notes kept as plain files on their own disk

Inkdrop

• Developers keeping technical notes in Markdown
• People who want encrypted sync across desktop and mobile
• Giving coding agents access to notes through MCP

Heynote

• Desktop only: there is no mobile app, and the author says one is out of scope for now.
• No sync of its own. The docs suggest a file-syncing service such as Dropbox and warn that editing one buffer on two machines at once can cause conflicts.
• The Windows build is not code-signed, so Windows may show a warning when installing it.
• The code is under the MIT license with the Commons Clause, which does not allow selling the software.

Inkdrop

• There is no free plan; when the 30-day trial ends without payment the account is deactivated and local notes become read-only.
• Cancelling means deleting the account, which permanently removes the notes and images stored on Inkdrop's server.
• The built-in AI features need your own API key for Anthropic or an OpenAI-compatible provider.
• The editor is plain-text Markdown with no rich-text mode, and only images can be attached to notes.

Heynote

Buffers divided into blocks

A buffer is a persistent stretch of text split into blocks. One keystroke adds a block, and select-all picks the current block first, then the whole buffer.

A language for each block

Each block has its own language, detected automatically or set by hand, with syntax highlighting for more than 30 languages and auto-formatting for JSON, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Markdown.

Math blocks

A math block works as a calculator pad with variables, functions and unit and currency conversion. It is built on Math.js expressions.

Multiple buffers

Besides the default Scratch buffer you can create any number of buffers, open them in tabs, sort them into directories and search across them. Each one is a .txt file on disk.

Inline images with markup

Images pasted or dropped into a buffer appear inline, can be resized and annotated with a freehand drawing tool, and copied back to the clipboard.

Keyboard control

Default, Emacs-like or custom key bindings, a command palette, multi-cursor editing and an optional global hotkey that shows or hides the app.

Inkdrop

Markdown editor

Plain-text Markdown editing with slash commands, a floating format toolbar, code-block autocompletion and link pasting that fetches the page title.

Rendering for technical notes

The preview renders syntax-highlighted code blocks, Mermaid diagrams and KaTeX math for inline and block equations.

Notebooks, statuses and tags

Notebooks nest inside one another, and each note can carry tags and a status of active, on hold, completed or dropped that the note list filters by.

End-to-end encrypted sync

Sync between devices is end-to-end encrypted and notes stay available offline. A self-run CouchDB-compatible server can be used instead of Inkdrop's.

MCP server and AI assistant

An MCP server lets agents such as Claude Code search and read notes. The inline assistant and next edit suggestions run on an API key you supply.

Keyboard control and plugins

A command palette, per-context keymaps and a Vim plugin cover keyboard use, and plugins are written against a TypeScript API.

Heynote

• Heynote$0

  The full app as Mac Universal, Arm and Intel builds, a Windows installer, and an AppImage or Snap for Linux.

Inkdrop

• Basic$8.31

  per month, billed annually ($99.80); $9.98 billed monthly

  The only plan, with everything included: cloud sync, an unlimited number of notes and 30 GB of storage.

Heynote

No public discounts listed.

Inkdrop

• Annual discount

  About 17% less with annual billing

  Annual billing is $99.80 a year, shown as $8.31 a month, against $9.98 a month on monthly billing, which totals $119.76 over a year.