Tangent Notes vs The Archive
We give Tangent Notes a 3.4 GPA and The Archive a 2.8, out of 4.0. Tangent Notes grades higher on the free plan and platforms. The Archive grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Tangent Notes
Open-source Markdown notes app that maps the path between notes
Free
The Archive
Plain-text note-taking app for Mac built around Zettelkasten
Free trial · from $19.99 one-time
How we grade them
| 3.4GPATangent NotesVery good | 2.8GPAThe ArchiveGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | A$19.99 once, which is about what three or four months of a typical note subscription costs. That buys version 1, with its announced features shipped as free updates. The developers plan a paid version 2 and say version 1 owners will get a discount. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe whole desktop app is free on Mac, Windows and Linux, with no account and no server. There's nothing to upgrade to. | CNo free version, but the trial is a long one at 60 days. The listing can't say whether it asks for a card. That's plenty of time to find out whether the method suits you. |
| Features | 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. | AIt's built for one job, linked plain-text notes, and it covers that fully. The Omnibar searches every note and creates a new one from what you typed. Wiki-links find notes by ID, and there's Markdown highlighting, hashtags, saved searches and typewriter mode. Plug-ins automate the chores. |
| Ease of use | 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. | BNo rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. One search field does both the finding and the creating. If you liked nvALT, this is the same search-first idea. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | DMac only. The site lists no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version. Notes sync only if you keep the folder in iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive or Box. Alfred and Keyboard Maestro can drive it through its URL scheme. |
| Best for | following links between Markdown notes without getting lost | a plain-text Zettelkasten on a Mac |
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: Tangent Notes and The Archive. How we grade
Where they differ
- Tangent Notes is free. The Archive starts at $19.99 one-time purchase.
- Tangent Notes has a free plan. The Archive does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Tangent Notes lists Windows and Linux apps.
- Tangent Notes is open source, according to its own site.
- The Archive can be bought with a one-time purchase.
In commonmacOSLocal-firstNotesMarkdownLinked notes
At a glance
| Tangent Notes | The Archive | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $19.99 one-time purchase |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 60-day free trial |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Taylor Hadden | Christian Tietze and Sascha Fast |
| Price read from | tangentnotes.com | zettelkasten.de |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
The Archive
- Writers and researchers practicing the Zettelkasten method
- Mac users who want notes kept as plain text files
- People who liked nvALT and want a similar search-first app
Worth knowing
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.
The Archive
- It is a Mac app only; the site lists no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version.
- There is no sync service of its own: notes sync only by keeping the folder in a cloud storage service.
- The developers plan a paid version 2 and say version 1 owners will get a discount on it.
- It ignores Finder tags on purpose; a separate converter turns them into #hashtags for notes coming from nvALT or DEVONthink.
Key features
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.
The Archive
- Plain text file storage
- Every note is a plain text file in a folder you pick, so notes stay readable without the app and can sync through iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box or similar services.
- Search-first navigation
- One search field, the Omnibar, finds notes by their text and creates a new note from the search term. Saved searches switch between subsets of your notes.
- Wiki-links and note IDs
- Double-bracket wiki-links look up the target note by its ID, giving clickable links between notes without file paths or a proprietary format.
- Markdown editor
- Markdown highlighting, inline image preview, typewriter mode, hashtags, auto-completion of tags and links, and customizable themes.
- Plug-ins
- Plug-ins, added in version 1.8, automate tasks such as extracting a note from selected text or building a list of links. They cannot delete notes or reach the internet.
- URL scheme
- Links starting with thearchive:// let other apps such as Alfred and Keyboard Maestro open a matching note, run a search or launch a plug-in.
Plans
Tangent Notes
Tangent$0
The full desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux, offered as an open alpha. Linux builds are also on Flathub.
The Archive
The Archive$19.99
one-time purchase
A license for version 1 of the Mac app, with the features announced for version 1 shipped as free updates. The press kit also gives the price as 19.99 EUR.
