Scrintal Review: Best Note-Taking App? (2024)

[@toolfinderhq]

*Free Scrintal Getting Started Guide* For all newsletter readers: toolfinder.beehiiv.com/subscribe

[@stephenzeoli8117]

I love Scrintal, but it needs two features to make it unbeatable. First, the ability to label the links between notes. This would make Scrintal more useful for building concept maps. Second, the ability to export the notes from a board as one, concatenated Word or markdown file. Imagine being able to pull your notes together in a board, arrange them, and then have Scrintal assemble them into one document!

[@johnwright5126]

I really don't understand apps that don't have a trial.

[@ViktorFury]

Agreed - it's baffling. Who is going to commit ~$90-100 to a tool they can't try?

[@MikeLyncheski]

What makes this even more egregious is that you must commit to an entire year. I wouldn't necessarily mind spending $7 for just one month if I thought it had potential.

[@Ameridlo]

they can’t afford it and they want to pass the problem to you

[@elsaaforges]

You can get a refund for the following seven days after subscription.

[@artehurso]

the issue with apps like this and heptabase is that they lack Apple Pencil support

[@MikeLyncheski]

That is pretty much the only reason I use OneNote for meeting notes.

[@Bruno-pw2mp]

I love Miro so much, please make more videos about useful Miro features!

[@thelivingwordwithiangreig1656]

I have been an 'early adopter' of Scrintal since the early days and I have seen steady, careful development where basically everything works. I'm with Stephen Zeoli and saying -- like all Zettelkasten-style writers -- that it needs a means of merging or concatenating notes. The visual arrangement is perfect for seeing all those atomic or fleeting notes and joining them (or not) in a good way. But then there will be the need for a composite Markdown to edit further in the publishing workflow. Also Scrintal lacks a way of capturing those fleeting notes -- Obsidian/Heptabase/Tana etc have iOS apps for adding content from mobile devices -- although the web version is very responsive and does work on a mobile device albeit with the faff of going through a browser tab.

[@DannyHatcherTech]

Obsidian is free and offers more - I am not sure what scrintel adds 🤷‍♂

[@toolfinderhq]

Some people want that visual canvas front and centre, but as I mentioned, I can see why people would stick with Obsidian for the combo of traditional PKM and visual nature of canvas.

[@stephenzeoli8117]

If you're happy with Obsidian, no worries. Obsidian takes a lot of fidgeting to get it to work the way you want: setting up vaults and applying plug-ins. Scrintal works just as pictured above right out of the box. And Obsidian isn't free if you want to use their syncing system.

[@DannyHatcherTech]

@@stephenzeoli8117 Fair points, although you dont need to fidget with Obsidian, it is a choice. The same with sync, how you do it is up to the user 🤷‍♂️

[@stephenzeoli8117]

@@DannyHatcherTech I want to be clear, I think Obsidian is an amazing tool. But every time I've tried to use it, it feels like there is so much friction getting started. An app like Scrintal is just useable from the start, and sometimes it is nice when an app focusses on doing one thing well. But everyone is different, which is what opens the door for all kinds of apps in this category.

[@beeblebroxm]

Agreed, and Obsidian Canvas does all of this already.

[@Stormbrise]

Let me guess, the note system is stored online. It reminds me of something I used a few years ago… I prefer to use md and have my notes stored locally. Oh and 5.49 in 12 months is is just under 66 GBP at 65.88 unless you have VAT added afterwards.

[@TommyScott-g1p]

What are the best AI tools for productivity? Like taskade but loosk kidn of messy tbhh

[@JamesRodric]

¿What's the difference between this tool and heptabase?

[@toolfinderhq]

This is something we want to do a review between soon. Stay tuned!

[@addy7445]

It doesn't make sense to avail any paid software when you're not a business.

[@russelllapua4904]

Looks like a bit of a mix of mind map and chunk map. Would have liked a free tier to check it out properly, and not having to spend £66 to try it out.

[@OlafKordes-s3v]

Thank you for this review. Two important elements missing to be tempted : when will IOS Version follow ? More importantly, what is your take on importing data (currently using bear, which is nice, but also talks to no other app...) Thank you !

[@anzi_teaching]

I asked them about an iOS version two days ago. There are not plans at the moment. That makes me not even consider using that app seriously. I needed a nativ app, at least on the iPad.

[@ZukunftBilden]

There is no iphone app or something - right?

[@MeanwhileRomeBurns]

Scrintal seems good conceptually, but the biggest flaw with Scrintal is that it is a Web based app only. So no internet, no Scrintal. With a web based app, of course you can claim it is available for MacOS/Windows etc. so long as you have a browser for that platform. You need to differentiate between Web apps and apps for specific platforms such as MacOS and Windows. Scrintal does not have apps for specific platforms such as MacOS/Windows/Linux etc. So where is the data held and in what format? It is not held on your local device that is for sure. Can you easily the move your data from Scrintal to another platform. What if Scrintal goes bust? Can you retrieve your data? These are the first two questions I always ask about an app and so should everyone else.😎 And I do not like subscription models!

[@pausedrebel6335]

Scrintal missed the boat by being too long in development, Obsidian coming up with Canvas and their constant updates made Scrintal just another canvas app.Even Heptabase developed faster and though Scrintal is cheaper, there is nothing groundbreaking here to justify the price. Scrintal is either going to fade away or going to be something niche.

[@DavidROliver]

I hear you! I use Scrintal for collaboration; it's Scrintals killer feature. But as a PKM Heptabase is better in almost everything except on price, where it's much cheaper. I think Heptabases pricing lets it down, it's not Notion, and while there is still so much to do, I would just drop the price a bit to stay competitive.

[@ACDC.]

100% TRUE

[@pookiepats]

Yea i was so high on Scrintal and literally it has gotten worse. Has Reader integration…then it was pulled. I complained of their local sync issues as did many others, they denied it worked that way for months then finally roll out an “optimization” for performance improvements but added zero features and never acknowledged the initial claims… Too much ambition and ego, not enough execution

[@pookiepats]

Respectfully, it’s insulting to call Scrintal an Obsidian & Miro baby-straight up: Scrintal is BARE BONES not enough here for anyone that is not an enthusiast

[@toolfinderhq]

The concept, not the full app. But they have a long way to go.

[@appeal]

I like the sound of this and how it feels but the design is pretty ugly : / It has similar functionality to ClickUp Whiteboard.

[@RickFarris]

Looks kind of Craft-ish...

[@Ameridlo]

the app is not worth it I delayed the purchase for a while and Always come to reconsider and end rejecting it is just a fancy board that works worst than miro but shields itself with wanne be markdown

[@lexiesanders929]

This has a lifetime payment option unlike heptabase. I'd rather pay 250buck once and be sure I'll just use it as long as I want than pay a small price but be hooked