About Notabase
Notabase (pronounced noh-tuh-base) is a personal knowledge base for networked thinking.
I started Notabase because I couldn't find a note-taking app that meshed with the way I think. The existing options were too complicated and hard to use, or didn't have the capabilities I needed.
The ideal note-taking app doesn't just let you take notes; it helps you write and think better. With that fundamental guiding star, I eventually settled on three core principles:
- Easy to use; it just works.
- Links are first-class citizens.
- Open, transparent, and privacy-friendly.
1. Easy to use; it just works
Some note-taking apps have such a big learning curve that they feel more like coding than writing. In contrast, Notabase is honed to be as easy-to-use as possible, but without sacrificing power.
Notabase has a WYSIWYG editor that gives you a rich-text experience, regardless of whether you're reading or editing a note. You can format text using keyboard shortcuts, a formatting toolbar, or Markdown.
It's built for the universal platform: the web. Your notes are automatically accessible across all of your devices—no additional setup needed.
2. Links are first-class citizens
Nothing exists in a vacuum, so your notes shouldn't either. With Notabase, your notes form bidirectional links to each other, allowing you to organize knowledge associatively, not just hierarchically.
The real power comes from backlinks, which let you see which notes link to a specific note. This allows relevant notes and pieces of knowledge to naturally bubble up to the surface, empowering your writing, research, and ideas.
With these links, your notes form a network—your own, personal knowledge graph—so every note, idea, and piece of knowledge you have is mise en place.
3. Open, transparent, and privacy-friendly
Notabase is open source with a public roadmap, which means that development happens transparently and the entire community is involved.
Notabase will never sell your data or advertise to you. The only way Notabase makes money is from users paying for the product, which aligns incentives.
There's also no lock-in; your notes are fully owned by you. You can export your notes at any time to Markdown. And since Notabase is open source, you can even self-host it.
About me
I'm Richard, and I'm the founder, engineer, and designer behind Notabase.
Before Notabase, I worked at Intercom, Amazon, and BuzzFeed. I graduated from Princeton University in 2018 with a Computer Science B.S.E. degree.
Connect with me on Twitter.
If Notabase's principles resonate with you, I encourage you to sign up and give it a try!
