Heptabase

Heptabase is a visual note-taking tool for deep research, combining whiteboards, linked notes and AI to help you actually understand what you study.

Overview

Heptabase is built around the reality of research work: you read a lot, connect ideas, and need to see the big picture. Its core is a whiteboard where your notes live as cards you can arrange, cluster and link — ideal for literature reviews, thesis work and strategy projects. Notes are markdown, tags and backlinks connect everything, and PDF annotation keeps sources in context. The AI layer can chat with your notes, summarize clusters and suggest connections, supporting synthesis rather than just retrieval.

Researchers cluster source cards on whiteboards around emerging themes, link them into arguments, and use AI to summarize clusters and suggest missing connections. PDF highlights live next to the notes they inform, keeping evidence attached to claims. The daily journal bridges capture and synthesis, and everything syncs across devices for reading at the library and writing at the desk.

Key Features

• Visual whiteboards with note cards for organizing research spatially
• Markdown notes with backlinks, tags and rich embedding
• PDF annotation and highlight workflows tied to notes
• AI chat over your notes with synthesis and connection suggestions
• Daily journal and task views integrated with research material
• Offline-capable apps for desktop and mobile
• Cluster summarization for literature synthesis
• PDF highlights linked directly to note cards

Pricing

Heptabase offers a free trial, then subscription pricing (around $12/month on annual billing) with all features included; student discounts are available.

Who Is It For

It serves researchers, graduate students, analysts and writers engaged in long-running synthesis projects where seeing connections matters.

A doctoral researcher clusters reading notes on whiteboards, links evidence into argument maps, and uses AI summaries to synthesize each theme before drafting. PDF highlights stay attached to the claims they support, and the journal bridges daily capture with weekly synthesis. The result is a thesis that grows from connected understanding.

FAQ

Is Heptabase free to use?

A free trial is available; continued use requires a subscription.

Does Heptabase offer an API?

Heptabase exports clean markdown and supports integrations; a broad public API is still evolving.

How does Heptabase compare to alternatives?

Compared with Obsidian or Notion, Heptabase’s whiteboard-first approach suits visual synthesis of research better than list- or doc-based systems.

Can I export my Heptabase notes?

Yes — Heptabase supports markdown export so your research remains portable, with attachments and structure preserved for archiving or migration.