MindForger vs QOwnNotes
We give MindForger and QOwnNotes the same GPA: 3.6 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
MindForger
Open-source Markdown notebook that links related notes for you
Free
QOwnNotes
Open-source Markdown notes app with Nextcloud and ownCloud support
Free
How we grade them
| 3.6GPAMindForgerExcellent | 3.6GPAQOwnNotesExcellent | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source under the GNU GPL. The site says it costs nothing to download and use, with no account and no subscription, against a typical $5.99 a month in this category. | AFree and open source under the GPL. The project says it generates no revenue and runs on donations through PayPal, GitHub Sponsors and Liberapay. There's nothing to buy. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe full desktop app is free, Wingman assistant included, and Wingman can run a model on your own machine through Ollama. There's no paid tier to bump into. | AThe full desktop app, the Web Companion extension and the Android app are all free. No paid tier exists, so there's no limit to run into. |
| Features | ARelated notes listed as you read or write, links made automatically from note names, a knowledge graph, Kanban and Eisenhower views, math, Mermaid diagrams, and keyboard commands to clone, promote, move and extract notes. That's deep. Sync is the one thing it leaves to Git or a cloud drive. | AHierarchical tags, subfolders, [[Note]] links with backlinks, AES-256 encryption for single notes, and a browser clipper. With Nextcloud or ownCloud you can restore old versions and trashed notes and share notes publicly. Scripts install from an in-app repository, and there's a built-in MCP server. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating to go on, so a B is our ceiling. On Linux and Windows it's a normal install. On a Mac the app isn't signed, so Gatekeeper blocks it after each install until you allow it by hand, and Wingman needs a language model set up first. | BNo store rating to go on, so a B is our ceiling. On a computer it's install, pick a folder, write. It gets more involved once you want sync, since the app doesn't sync by itself and leans on a Nextcloud or ownCloud client. |
| Platforms and integrations | BLinux, macOS and Windows, with packages for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and more. It hooks up to Ollama, OpenRouter and OpenAI. No phone or web app, and the Mac build is Intel only, running on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2. | BLinux, macOS and Windows, a Chrome and Firefox extension, and hooks into Nextcloud, ownCloud, OpenAI and Groq. The Android app is an APK from GitHub that needs a Nextcloud server running Notes, and the site lists no iOS app. That keeps it off the A. |
| Best for | Markdown notes that link themselves, on a desktop | Markdown notes on a desktop, paired with Nextcloud |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: MindForger and QOwnNotes. How we grade
Where they differ
- MindForger is free. QOwnNotes is free.
- Only QOwnNotes lists an Android app.
- Only QOwnNotes lists a browser extension.
- QOwnNotes also covers web clipper.
In commonFree planLinuxmacOSWindowsOpen sourceLocal-firstAI featuresNotesMarkdownLinked notes
At a glance
| MindForger | QOwnNotes | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free, open-source software under the GNU GPL (version 2 on GitHub). The site says it costs nothing to download and use, with no account and no subscription. | Free and open source under the GPL. The project says it generates no revenue and accepts donations through PayPal, GitHub Sponsors and Liberapay. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Martin Dvorak | Patrizio Bekerle |
| Price read from | mindforger.com | qownnotes.org |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
MindForger
- People who keep private notes as Markdown files on their own disk
- Keyboard-driven users who want IDE-style restructuring of notes
- Running an AI assistant over notes with a local Ollama model
- Linux users: packages cover Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and more
QOwnNotes
- Nextcloud or ownCloud users who want a desktop Markdown notes app
- People who keep notes as plain files that any editor can open
- Users who want to script and rearrange their notes app
Worth knowing
MindForger
- Desktop only: the site lists Linux, macOS and Windows with no mobile or web app, and leaves syncing to Git or a cloud drive of your choice.
- The macOS app is not signed or notarized by Apple: after each .dmg install Gatekeeper blocks it until it is allowed by hand, and it has left the official Homebrew cask repository.
- The macOS .dmg is built for Intel and runs on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2; the Windows installer is for 64-bit x64 only.
- Wingman needs a language model set up first: Ollama installed locally, or a remote provider, which the docs warn sends your text to a third party.
QOwnNotes
- The app does not sync notes or attachments itself; syncing across devices depends on a Nextcloud or ownCloud sync client or another file-sync tool.
- The Android app is installed as an APK from its GitHub release page and needs a Nextcloud server running the Notes app. The site lists no iOS app.
- The browser extension works only while the desktop app is running.
- Current builds need Windows 10 or macOS 13 or later; the older Qt5 builds cannot use the built-in updater.
Key features
MindForger
- Associations
- While a note is being read or written, MindForger lists related notes from the whole workspace. Associations are computed locally, with no cloud service or language model needed.
- Autolinking
- Names of notebooks and notes mentioned in the text become links in the preview automatically. Generated links are shown in green and hand-written ones in blue.
- Wingman assistant
- An optional assistant that summarizes, explains, translates, rewrites and fixes grammar. It runs open-weight models locally through Ollama, or sends text to OpenRouter or OpenAI.
- Organizers and knowledge graph
- Kanban boards and Eisenhower matrix views sort notebooks and notes by their tags, and a force-directed graph shows notebooks, notes and tags with their relationships.
- Markdown editor with refactoring
- The editor has live preview, syntax highlighting, offline KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams and spell check. Notes can be cloned, promoted, demoted, moved and extracted from the keyboard.
- Plain Markdown workspaces
- Notes are GitHub Flavored Markdown files on disk. MindForger opens its own workspace, any Markdown directory or a single file, and exports notebooks to HTML or Markdown.
QOwnNotes
- Plain Markdown files
- Notes are plain-text Markdown files in a folder you pick, so existing text files work without an import and any other editor can open them.
- Nextcloud and ownCloud integration
- Restores older note versions and trashed notes from the server, shares notes publicly, creates Nextcloud Deck cards and manages server to-do lists.
- Tags, subfolders and wiki links
- Hierarchical tags and note subfolders, plus optional [[Note]] links with autocomplete, heading anchors, aliases and backlinks.
- Web Companion browser extension
- A Chrome and Firefox extension clips selected text or a screenshot of a page into a note and manages bookmarks kept in notes.
- Scripting and AI support
- Scripts install from an in-app repository. Opt-in AI support takes Groq and OpenAI keys, and a built-in MCP server lets outside agents search and fetch notes.
- Optional note encryption
- AES-256 encryption of individual notes is built in, and scripts add Keybase or PGP as alternative encryption methods.
Plans
MindForger
MindForger$0
The full desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows, including the Wingman assistant, which uses a local Ollama model or a remote OpenRouter or OpenAI model.
QOwnNotes
QOwnNotes$0
The full desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows, plus the Web Companion extension and the Android app.
