Listed whether or not they pay us. Prices from each tool's own pricing page, checked Oct 16, 2026.

Heptabase

Visual whiteboard and card knowledge tool for deep research, with AI chat over your cards, PDFs and videos.

Best for Visual thinkers doing deep research and learning

What it does

Heptabase is a visual knowledge base designed for students, researchers, and lifelong learners. Users bring in sources like PDFs, YouTube videos, and daily journals to take notes, highlight text, and clarify their thinking on visual whiteboards. In return, it creates an interconnected knowledge workspace supported by AI to explain materials and organize ideas.

Read more: 5 features and how people use themShow less
  1. Heptabase: Whiteboards and cards

    Whiteboards and cards

    Provides an open visual space to lay out note cards and map out relationships between concepts. Helps you structure complex thinking and explore ideas side by side.

    Use caseA learner deepens their understanding of a challenging reading by placing notes on a canvas.

    From heptabase.com · image from Heptabase
  2. Heptabase: AI agent

    AI agent

    Answers questions about your uploaded materials, takes notes, and arranges concepts within your personal knowledge repository. Works across models like GPT, Claude, and Gemini depending on your plan.

    Use caseA researcher asks questions to unpack difficult sources and automatically create organized study notes.

    From heptabase.com · image from Heptabase
  3. Heptabase: PDF and YouTube processing

    PDF and YouTube processing

    Ingests documents and videos directly into your workspace. Allows you to extract highlights from PDFs and read transcripts alongside YouTube videos.

    Use caseA student reviews a recorded course lecture while following along with its text transcript.

    From heptabase.com/pricing · image from Heptabase
  4. Offline access

    Stores your information locally so you can open, read, and write content even without an internet connection.

    Use caseA student reviews lecture notes while traveling without any web access.

    From heptabase.com
  5. Fast note search

    Indexes your notes to deliver rapid keyword queries across large collections of information in fractions of a second.

    Use caseA researcher locates specific references across thousands of stored notes in under a second.

    From heptabase.com

Written from Heptabase's own website, checked . Each feature links to the page it comes from; images are Heptabase's own.

Every plan

PlanMonthlyBilled yearlyPerWhat it includes
Pro$8.99Not listedper user100 AI credits/mo; AI agent limited to Gemini; unlimited notes/whiteboards
Premium$17.99Not listedper user1,800 AI credits/mo; unlimited PDF uploads/OCR; AI agent (GPT, Claude, Gemini); AI tutor
Premium+$53.99Not listedper user8,100 AI credits/mo; 33% discount on AI credits

From Heptabase's own pricing page, checked . Prices are in US dollars per month; "billed yearly" is the monthly price when you pay for a year up front. A few figures (often the yearly price) are derived rather than printed on the page.

Before you pay

Unused credits roll over
No
What Heptabase saysNo. Unused monthly AI credits do not carry over. Source page
Failed generations cost credits
No
What Heptabase saysFor Basic models, on demand charges apply only if the AI Agent successfully changes content. Read only conversations remain free. Source page
Export your data
Yes
What Heptabase saysBefore starting, export a backup from Settings → Backup → Export now if you want to keep a copy. Source page
Support
Help center, in app support
What Heptabase saysIf a specific credit balance or reset date affects your decision, contact in app support before changing plans. Source page

Only what Heptabase's own pages state, with the quote behind each answer. Anything they don't publish is left out rather than guessed.

Getting started with Heptabase

  1. Start by watching the first three videos under Basic Features if you are new to Heptabase.
  2. Watch Sense making with whiteboards to learn basic sense making.
  3. Follow Organize knowledge & projects rather than the outdated video on organizing topics with nested whiteboards and tab groups.
  4. Learn to manage card databases with tags and properties.

Tips

  • You can find all tutorial videos on the official Heptabase YouTube channel.

Written from Heptabase's own help pages: wiki.heptabase.com/video-tutorials

Heptabase video tutorials

Heptabase: A beginners tutorial for visual note taking (personal knowledge management tool)Greg Wheeler · 26 min
Heptabase: Note-Taking & Mind-Mapping in One App!Shu · 8 min

Independent creators on YouTube, not Heptabase or us. The video loads from YouTube only when you press play.

The free trial

Trial only: No standalone free plan: 7 day free trial (with Premium level 1,800 AI credits per third party). Free access only as an invited collaborator on a paid user's spaces; AI features are not available to free users.

Questions people ask about Heptabase

How much does Heptabase cost?

Paid plans start at $8.99 a month (Pro). 3 plans are listed above, from Heptabase's own pricing page.

Is Heptabase free?

There is a free trial but no free plan: No standalone free plan: 7 day free trial (with Premium level 1,800 AI credits per third party). Free access only as an invited collaborator on a paid user's spaces; AI features are not available to free users..

Do unused Heptabase credits roll over?

No, unused credits do not carry over to the next month. Source

Does Heptabase charge credits for failed generations?

No, failed generations are not charged. Source

Does Heptabase offer a free plan?

Heptabase only offers a free plan through collaboration when a paid user invites you as a collaborator. Source

Why is my invited friend asked to subscribe?

Existing users who created an account before February 7, 2025, are ineligible for the collaborator free plan. Source

Works with

Integrations
Readwise, Zotero, Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT, Claude
Languages
English, 中文

Where this came from

Plans, prices and limits were copied from Heptabase's own pages and the other sources listed, then checked .

How we collect prices and rank tools · Is something wrong? Correct this listing

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