PKM Comparison

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

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 is a Logseq-centric view of PKMs. That means it is written from the point of view of someone who likes infinite outliners like Workflowy and not someone who likes block-based editors like Notion. (Although Notion is good for some things, like publishing this chart!) Similarly, it favors built-in status-based task systems like 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. That is the main difference between this chart and many similar lists you will find on the internet, many of which include simple note-taking or task management apps that are not “true” PKMs.

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.

• Journaling.
  • 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.
• Workflowy style outlining
  • Native outlining (not just bullet lists) with the ability to zoom in on any node and work in context on that part of the outline. Ideally such outliners are block-based, which means you can transclude individual nodes elsewhere (see below). Search results should also use the outline hierarchy to show the context of your notes - and inherit tag properties.
• A mobile app with encrypted sync.
  • 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.
• Sophisticated task management.
  • I originally switched to Logseq because Roam didn't have this and Logseq did. Some apps have this as a third party plugin, like Obsidian. Personally, I can't trust such a key part of my workflow to a third party. Moreover, when it isn't part of the core experience of using the app, I find it often doesn't work quite as well. Some apps let you build your own task manager using “supertags.” Again, this is usually not as good as built-in task management.
• Slash commands
  • It is really amazing how much easier it is to just type slash and then look for a command than it is to try to remember some hotkey combination or have to hunt around a UI to look where to click with a mouse.
• 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.
• Editable transclusion
  • The ability to edit embeded text or backlinks. Even better if you can edit query results as well.

Features not included (yet) in chart

• Filterable backlinks
• ‘Powertags’ (coming in Logseq DB)