PKM Comparison

Hover over an app name to see “open” command. This will show you additional notes in the sidebar.

Last Update:

• April 18, 2025
• This will probably not be updated again until after Logseq DB is released, unless it is to correct an error.

What is a PKM?

Personal Knowledge Management. See Wikipedia. Here it refers to apps that offer the ability to create personal wikis.

Why this chart?

This chart is designed for people who use and like Logseq and are curious about whether they could replicate that experience in another app. A low ranking here does not mean other apps are worse. In fact, they might be better for some other tasks. (I use Obsidian daily, and this post is made using Notion.)

This graph is for people who like infinite outliners (like Workflowy), built-in status-based task systems (similar to what you would find in a dedicated task manager like Todoist), and downgrades apps that just have simple checklists or which make you cook-your-own task management system. You can see a full description of each item in the “Feature List” below.

This chart also ignores common features that all modern PKMs seem to now have, such as bidirectional linking, since any app which didn’t have such features would be excluded from this list to begin with. And it excludes simple note-taking apps, like Bear, that are often included in other such lists you might find online.

Feature List

Items are ranked by a score which counts how may items are fully implemented according to my own idiosyncratic (and Logseq-centric) standards. Obviously Logseq will score higher than most other apps due to this method. That is intentional.

• Journal
  • Since I first used Roam about five years ago I'm completely won over by the journaling workflow. In this approach you just start writing in a blank screen each day and add tags to organize things. I prefer this to having to think about organization before starting a new note.
• Zoom
  • The ability to zoom in on any node and work in context is essential to how I work. Apps like Workflowy, Dyanalist, and Roam have and this for a while, but most of the new PKMs are built like Notion where outlines are just bullet lists and there is no way to zoom in on part of the outline for focused work. Many apps have “folding” but that is far inferior for me than Zoom.
• Full fledged tasks
  • Many of these apps have simple checkbox tasks, but I need full fledged task management with status, priorities, and scheduled tasks. Very few apps have this built in, though some do it with plugins, or expect you to build-your-own using tagging.
• Mobile
  • I've seen a lot of apps struggle with sync or mobile support and have to go back to the drawing board as Logseq is doing now. Better to start with mobile from the beginning.
• Aliases
  • Logseq aliases are essential to my workflow. Many apps let you write different text than the link you are using, but these are not what I consider “true aliases” where two or more titles can point to the same page.
• Filterable Backlinks
  • Large lists of backlinks are useless without the ability to filter by tag. If you can filter tags by search, but no list of tags is presented to the user, I’ve marked that as a partial implementation.
• Calendar integration
  • It is really nice to be able to see your agenda from within the PKM and to see your scheduled tasks and events within your calendar. Not many apps offer this yet.
• Data Exchange
  • Ability to move data in and out of the app with a simple and well-known data format, such as markdown.