# Roam Research

> Outliner for networked notes with bidirectional links

Roam Research is an outliner for networked note-taking. Notes are written as bullet blocks in daily notes and pages, and any page or block can be linked or referenced from elsewhere, so a graph of connected ideas builds up over time. It is sold by subscription with a 31-day trial and no free plan; paid plans cover unlimited graphs and collaborators.

- **Category:** Note-Taking Apps
- **Made by:** Roam Research, Inc.
- **Website:** https://roamresearch.com
- **Runs on:** Web, macOS, iOS
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 4, 2026

## Pricing

Roam Research is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $15 per month, or $165 per year ($13.75 a month).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 31-day free trial, available only if you have never had a plan.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. |

Roam Research's own pricing page could not be read; these figures come from https://frontdeskreview.com/software/note-taking-apps/roam-research/ on Oct 4, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Roam Research before buying.

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- 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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## Works with

Claude, Cursor

**Tags:** Notes, Linked notes, Daily notes, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Logseq](https://toolgpa.com/tools/logseq): Open-source outliner for linked notes stored as local files. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/logseq-vs-roam-research)
- [Obsidian](https://toolgpa.com/tools/obsidian): Markdown note-taking app that keeps your files on your device. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/obsidian-vs-roam-research)
- [Tana Outliner](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tana): Outliner with supertags, daily notes and built-in AI features. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/roam-research-vs-tana)
- [Reflect](https://toolgpa.com/tools/reflect): Open-source daily notes app with backlinks and local Markdown. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/reflect-vs-roam-research)
- [Capacities](https://toolgpa.com/tools/capacities): Object-based note-taking app with daily notes and backlinks. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/capacities-vs-roam-research)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 4, 2026:

- https://roamresearch.com
- https://frontdeskreview.com/software/note-taking-apps/roam-research/
- https://www.costbench.com/software/note-taking/roam-research/
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/roam-research/id1609277273
- https://github.com/Roam-Research
- https://github.com/Roam-Research/roam-tools
- https://github.com/Roam-Research/roam-depot

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/roam-research
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).