Octarine vs Tangent Notes
We give Octarine and Tangent Notes the same GPA: 3.4 out of 4.0. Octarine grades higher on features. Tangent Notes grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Octarine
Local Markdown notes app with daily notes, views and optional AI
Free plan · from $79 one-time
Tangent Notes
Open-source Markdown notes app that maps the path between notes
Free
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAOctarineVery good | 3.4GPATangent NotesVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPro is $79 once, on 3 devices at a time, with every later Pro feature included. That's about 13 months of a typical $5.99 a month plan here, so just past our line for an A. The docs say the price goes up as Pro features are added, and the AI still needs your own API key. | AFree, and the site says it always will be. It's open source under the Apache 2.0 licence, with no paid version to buy. |
| Free plan and trial | APersonal is free: the WYSIWYG editor, unlimited workspaces, daily and weekly notes, graph view, full-text search, templates and Mermaid diagrams. The vendor says the core features will always be free. Most people could stay here. You also get 7 days of Pro with the download. | AThe whole desktop app is free on Mac, Windows and Linux, with no account and no server. There's nothing to upgrade to. |
| Features | AWikilinks to a note or a single heading, backlinks, a graph, and a Daily Desk that moves yesterday's unfinished tasks into today. A Spotlight-style capture window drops thoughts into an Inbox. Pro adds properties, table and kanban views, note sharing and a chat over your notes. | BSliding panels that keep your path, a map built from where you've been, Markdown styled as you type, wiki links with backlinks, nested tags and a query language whose queries you can save. A good set. But it's an open alpha, there's no built-in sync or collaboration, and export to HTML is still on the roadmap. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating to go on, so a B is our ceiling. It's a normal install, you edit the formatted page directly, and the main features are there without adding plugins. Sync is yours to arrange, through a file-sync service or the built-in Git sync. | BNo rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. Nearly every action has a shortcut you can change, with a command palette for the rest. Just remember the download page calls it an open alpha. |
| Platforms and integrations | BMac, Windows and Linux, a browser clipper, and Git sync to GitHub or GitLab. On phones there's only an iOS beta on TestFlight for eligible Pro users, and no Android app is listed. So it's a desktop app for now. | BMac, Windows and Linux, with Linux builds on Flathub too. iOS and Android sit under "Much Later" on the roadmap. Syncing is up to you: the site points to Git, iCloud, Drive or Dropbox for the files. |
| Best for | Markdown notes on a desktop with the extras built in | following links between Markdown notes without getting lost |
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: Octarine and Tangent Notes. How we grade
Where they differ
- Octarine starts at $79 one-time purchase. Tangent Notes is free.
- Only Octarine lists a browser extension.
- Octarine can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Tangent Notes is open source, according to its own site.
- Octarine also covers daily notes.
In commonFree planmacOSWindowsLinuxLocal-firstNotesMarkdownLinked notes
At a glance
| Octarine | Tangent Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $79 one-time purchase | Free |
| Free plan | Personal: the WYSIWYG editor, unlimited workspaces, daily and weekly notes, graph view, full-text search, templates, 4 themes and txt export. The vendor says the core features will always be free. | The whole app is free. The site describes it as open source under the Apache 2.0 license and says it will always be free. |
| Free trial | 7-day trial of Pro features included with the download | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Rajat Kulkarni | Taylor Hadden |
| Price read from | octarine.app | tangentnotes.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Octarine
- Writers who want Markdown notes kept as local files
- People who prefer a one-time license to a subscription
- Those who want linking, daily notes and views built in, not added as plugins
Tangent Notes
- Writers who follow links from note to note and want to keep their place
- Obsidian users who want another editor for the same linked files
- People who want Markdown notes with no account or server
Worth knowing
Octarine
- Properties, filtered views, note types, focus mode, note sharing and every AI feature need the $79 Pro license.
- There is no public phone app: an iOS beta runs on TestFlight for eligible Pro users, and no Android app is listed.
- AI features need your own API key or a local model, and syncing relies on a file-sync service or the built-in Git sync.
- Pricing is early-access: the docs say the price goes up as Pro features are added, while earlier buyers keep all future Pro features.
Tangent Notes
- Desktop only: iOS and Android support is listed under "Much Later" on the roadmap.
- The download page calls the app an open alpha, and the roadmap says it is still in active development.
- There is no built-in sync or collaboration; the site points to Git, iCloud, Drive or Dropbox for syncing the files.
- Export to HTML or simplified Markdown is still on the roadmap.
Key features
Octarine
- Markdown files you keep
- Notes are plain Markdown files in a workspace folder you pick, and core note-taking works offline. Files sync through any file-sync service or the built-in Git sync to GitHub or GitLab.
- Daily Desk
- Daily and weekly notes are part of the free plan, and unfinished tasks from yesterday's note can be moved into today's without copying.
- Links, backlinks and graph
- Wikilinks can point at a note or a single heading and carry an alias. Backlinks and mentions are listed in their own sheet, and a graph view maps the workspace.
- Properties and Views
- On Pro, Note Types start new notes with a set of properties, and Views filter, sort and group notes by any property in a table or kanban layout.
- Quick Capture and Inbox
- A Spotlight-style window opens over any app to take down a thought, which lands in an Inbox to be sorted into notes later.
- Ask Octarine and Writing Assistant
- On Pro, a chat over your notes can create, update and move notes, and an assistant rewrites text inline. Both need your own API key or a local LLM.
Tangent Notes
- Thread View
- As you follow and create links, the notes behind you stay open as horizontally sliding panels, so you can move back and forth along the path you took.
- Map View
- A branching map of nodes and connections is built automatically from your writing and navigation, giving an overview of where you have been.
- Markdown styled as you type
- Markup is hidden once you move on and reappears when you return. Headers, highlights, lists, YAML front matter, LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams and highlighted code blocks are supported.
- Wiki links and backlinks
- Double-bracket links connect notes by filename with autocomplete, and each note knows what links to it. Links in notes that come from Obsidian keep working.
- Tags, to-dos and queries
- Notes take nested tags and to-do checkboxes, and a custom query language finds notes by links, tags, to-dos or text. Queries can be saved and reused inside other queries.
- Keyboard control and focus mode
- Nearly every action has a customizable shortcut, with a command palette for the others. Focus mode narrows the view to one note, paragraph or sentence.
Plans
Octarine
Personal$0
WYSIWYG editor, unlimited workspaces, daily and weekly notes, graph view, full-text search, templates, Mermaid diagrams, 4 themes and txt export.
Pro$79
one-time purchase
Adds properties, filtered views, note types, focus mode, note sharing, AI tools, 30+ themes and PDF, HTML and DOCX export. One key works on 3 devices at a time.
Tangent Notes
Tangent$0
The full desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux, offered as an open alpha. Linux builds are also on Flathub.
