Compare / Dexi vs Heptabase

Dexi vs Heptabase

Dexi is an all-in-one workspace where notes, bookmarks, newsletters and RSS feeds land in one searchable knowledge graph; Heptabase is a visual learning tool where notes are cards you arrange and connect on infinite whiteboards. Here’s how they compare on pricing, platforms, linking, search, capture and collaboration — and how to decide between them.

What is Dexi?

Dexi is built on a simple observation: your knowledge doesn’t only come from notes you type. It arrives as web pages you want to keep, newsletters you forward, and articles flowing through RSS. Dexi puts all of it in one workspace — everything you save becomes a note, so one search covers your whole reading life. Structure emerges as you write: #hashtags become tags, @mentions become people and sources, and [[wiki links]] connect ideas into a private knowledge graph you can explore in 2D or 3D.

Search works two ways — instant full-text search, and semantic search that finds notes by meaning even when the words don’t match. Capture happens from anywhere: a Chrome extension, a bookmarklet, the iOS share sheet, or simply emailing an article in. Teams can share individual notes with per-note control, and an MCP server lets Claude and other AI assistants search, read and write your notes directly. Free for up to 1,000 notes; Solo is $5/month and Team is $10/member/month.

What is Heptabase?

Heptabase is for people who think spatially. Notes are cards; understanding happens by laying them out on infinite whiteboards, drawing connections, grouping into sections and mindmaps, and annotating PDFs alongside. It’s a deliberate take on learning deeply — less “capture everything” and more “make sense of what you’re studying” — and nothing else in this list matches its canvas experience.

Cards support Markdown, backlinks, tags with table views, and journals, so it still functions as a complete note system off the whiteboard. It runs on desktop, web and mobile with offline support and cloud sync. There’s no free plan (7-day trial); 2026 pricing is AI-credit-tiered — Pro at $8.99/month (annual) with Premium tiers above it for heavier AI use.

Dexi vs Heptabase at a glance

Pricing and features as of mid-2026 — check each product’s site for current details.

Where Dexi shines

• One workspace for every input — typed notes, saved web pages, forwarded newsletters and RSS subscriptions are all searchable together instead of living in separate apps.
• Zero-upkeep organization: tags, people and wiki links are written inline as prose, so notes file themselves without folders or manual metadata.
• Semantic search plus a “similar notes” view finds ideas by meaning — you search with today’s vocabulary and still find last year’s thinking.
• First-class AI-assistant support: an MCP server (OAuth-secured) lets Claude search, create and update your notes from claude.ai, Claude Code or Claude Desktop.
• Simple, cheap plans: free up to 1,000 notes, $5/month for unlimited, with team sharing and team-wide search at $10/member/month.

Worth knowing: Dexi is web-first and cloud-based — there’s no offline desktop app or local file storage. It’s a rich-text document editor rather than an outliner, so block-level references and transclusion aren’t the model. There’s no built-in spaced repetition.

Where Heptabase shines

• The best whiteboard-native note experience available — cards, sections, mindmaps and connections feel built-in, not bolted on.
• PDF annotation on the same canvas as your notes suits deep study workflows.
• Tags double as tables, giving light database views over cards.
• Solid offline support with sync across desktop, web and mobile.

Worth knowing: No free plan — only a 7-day trial. Collaboration is limited to shared whiteboards; it’s primarily single-player. Spatial organization is the point — if you don’t think in maps, the canvas is overhead rather than insight.

Which should you choose?

Choose Dexi if:

• You want bookmarks, newsletters and RSS feeds in the same searchable space as your notes — not a separate read-later app.
• You want organization to happen as a side effect of writing, with no folders or filing.
• You want your AI assistant (Claude or any MCP client) to work with your notes directly.
• You want team sharing without moving your whole workspace to a heavyweight team tool.

Choose Heptabase if:

• You learn by arranging ideas spatially and drawing the connections yourself.
• You study from PDFs and want annotation living next to your notes.
• A visual overview of a topic matters more to you than fast capture.

Frequently asked questions

Related comparisons

• Dexi vs Obsidian
• Dexi vs Roam Research
• Dexi vs Logseq
• Dexi vs Tana
• Dexi vs Capacities
• Dexi vs Anytype
• All comparisons →