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listlis

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Outliners, honestly compared

There is no single best outliner. Workflowy is shipping monthly updates with Calendar, tables, integrations, AI, and Desktop MCP. Tana's Free plan includes the graph editor, supertags, live searches, and 500 monthly AI credits. This is the honest map of what each tool does well, where the tradeoffs start, and where listlis fits. We'll tell you when staying put makes more sense.

Workflowy

A hosted infinite outliner with Calendar, tables, integrations, AI, and Desktop MCP. Basic includes its full feature set, but caps new nodes at 100 a month.

Logseq

A local-first knowledge base for backlinks, block references, queries, and whiteboards. Its file-based OG app is in maintenance while the newer database app is still beta.

Dynalist

The closest Workflowy-like outliner, with keyboard-first files, notes, and a familiar two-pane layout. It is in maintenance mode, so it fits a settled setup more than changing needs.

Tana

A graph editor for structured notes, with supertags, fields, live searches, and AI. Free includes the graph editor, supertags, live searches, and 500 monthly AI credits; paid plans start at $8 a month.

Roam Research

A graph-first workspace for daily notes and linked blocks. Roam Pro is $15 a month, a real commitment before you know whether networked notes fit the way you work.

listlis is the keyboard-first pick: one tree for tasks, notes, and half-formed ideas, with fractional-index reordering and completion that rolls up the subtree. No chrome, no setup ritual. Open a root and type.

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See it for yourself

Bring an OPML or Markdown outline from the import panel, or start with an empty root. No template to choose, no setup ritual to learn.

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