Workflowy

So what is Workflowy? One list. That's the whole idea, and it goes further than you'd think.

Everything's a bullet. Press Tab and a bullet tucks under the one above. So "Home" holds "Kitchen refit", which holds "Quotes", which holds "ring the plumber back". Go as deep as you like.

Then you zoom. Click any bullet and it fills the screen, and everything else is out of sight until you want it back. Honestly, that's the trick. A huge list never feels huge.

Is it only for lists, then? Not any more. A bullet can be a to-do or a heading, and a whole list can turn into a board or a table. Type /table and you've got columns.

Sharing is neat as well. Send a link to one bullet and the other person sees that bullet and what's under it, nothing more. They don't need an account to look.

And it's on the web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, so the list is wherever you are.

The free plan's cap, mostly. You can add 100 new bullets a month.

That's about three a day! Notes from a couple of meetings and a packing list, and you're most of the way there. Go over and you can still add bullets, but a popup asks you to subscribe.

Then there's the shape of it. No documents, no folders, only bullets. Lovely for lists and plans. Less so if you want to write a long report and lay it out nicely.

Don't expect it to nag you, either. We couldn't find timed reminders or repeating tasks anywhere in its help pages. The nearest thing is Today Digest, an email at 8 AM with what's on your calendar that day.

One muddle to know about. The pricing page says every feature is free, but the help pages say the AI tools need Pro. So don't count on those for nothing.

And Panes, which put two parts of your list side by side, only work on desktop for now.

Start on Basic. It's free, and it stays free.

The limits are 100 new bullets a month and 100 MB of uploads. Fine for the odd list. Keep your meeting notes in it and 100 won't last the week.

Pro is $6.99 a month if you pay yearly, or $8.99 month to month. That takes the cap off bullets and uploads. You get a 7-day free trial first.

Is that a lot for a list? A bit, we think. It's about $84 a year, and Notion and Obsidian cost one person nothing. Then again, it's a dollar less than Dynalist Pro, its closest rival. And there's no dearer tier above it, so nothing's kept back.

Teams pay the same $6.99 a person, paid yearly. That adds help getting set up and automatic backups to Dropbox.

Two nice touches. Stop paying and you keep all your notes. And non-profits get 50% off Pro.

Workflowy has 4.8 on the App Store from about 8,200 ratings. Nine in ten of them are five stars.

So what do people love? Speed, mostly. One reviewer couldn't work out why they liked it more than apps that do more, and landed on how quickly they can find things.

People wander off and come back, too. One had been tempted away by fancier apps a couple of times and returned each time.

The older reviews have a grumble. Around 2017 and 2018, paying users said the app had sat untouched for years. Not any more. Its What's New page lists eight updates so far this year, with tables and Panes among them.

The gripe now is price. On Hacker News one fan wishes it were cheaper. Another reckons it costs far too much for the little they use, and is building their own.

Some have moved on to Logseq or Roam for more power. One of them still opens Workflowy to work with other people.