Roam Research vs Workflowy
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Roam Research
Outliner for networked notes with bidirectional links
Workflowy
Outliner that keeps notes, to-dos and plans in one nested list
Where they differ
- Roam Research starts at $15 per month, or $165 per year ($13.75 a month). Workflowy starts at $6.99 per month, billed annually (Pro).
- Workflowy has a free plan. Roam Research does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Workflowy lists Windows, Linux and Android apps.
- Only Workflowy lists a browser extension.
- Roam Research also covers daily notes.
- Workflowy also covers tasks and kanban boards.
At a glance
| Roam Research | Workflowy | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per month, or $165 per year ($13.75 a month) | $6.99 per month, billed annually (Pro) |
| Free plan | None | Basic plan, free forever: all features, limited to 100 nodes (bullets) per month and 100 MB of file uploads. |
| Free trial | 31-day free trial, available only if you have never had a plan. | 7-day free trial of Pro. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Roam Research, Inc. | FunRoutine Inc. |
| Price read from | frontdeskreview.com (not the vendor's own page) | workflowy.com |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
Workflowy
- People who think in outlines and nested lists
- Keeping notes, to-dos and plans in one place
- College faculty and their students, who can get Pro free
- Teams working from a shared outline
Worth knowing
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.
Workflowy
- The free Basic plan allows 100 new nodes per month and 100 MB of file uploads; past the limit you are prompted to subscribe.
- Content is organized as one bullet outline, with no separate documents or folders.
- Workflowy describes its API as basic, supporting CRUD operations.
- The optional AI features send prompts and selected content to third-party model providers, named as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Key features
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.
Workflowy
- Infinitely nested outline
- Everything is a bullet that can be indented under another, so the same list works as notes, folders, to-dos and documents without separate files.
- Boards, tables and node types
- A bullet can be turned into a to-do, heading, paragraph, code block or quote, and a list can be laid out as a kanban-style Board or as a Table.
- Tags, dates, links and mirrors
- Tags, mentions and date tags filter the outline, links between bullets create backlinks, and mirrors show the same bullet in several places.
- Sharing and collaboration
- Notes and resources can be shared for real-time collaboration, with comments on bullets and an instant presentation view.
- Calendar and quick capture
- A Calendar and Timeline lay out dated items, while Quick Add, mobile sharing and Email to Workflowy capture ideas from outside the app.
- AI, API and integrations
- Optional AI features generate, edit and summarize content. A basic API, Zapier and a Readwise sync connect Workflowy to other apps.
Plans
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.
Workflowy
BasicFree
All features, with 100 nodes per month and 100 MB of file uploads.
Pro$6.99
per month, billed annually ($8.99 billed monthly)
All features with unlimited nodes and unlimited uploads.
Teams$6.99
per user / month, paid yearly
Unlimited nodes and file uploads for every member, one-on-one team setup and auto-backup to Dropbox.
Ways to pay less
Roam Research
No public discounts listed.
Workflowy
- Annual discount
About 22% lower price with annual billing
Pro is $6.99 per month when billed annually against $8.99 per month on monthly billing.
- Education
Free Pro for faculty and their students
College and university faculty can apply for free Pro for life and invite their students, who get Pro at no cost for the duration of their studies.
- Nonprofit
50% non-profit discount on Pro
The pricing FAQ lists a 50% non-profit discount on Pro subscriptions, arranged by emailing Workflowy.
