A board full of connected notes can be a private place to think, or something you work on with other people. The distinction matters more than how similar two screenshots look.
Acres is our first recommendation for the private workspace. It brings cards, linked notes, mindmaps and AI into a desktop app whose working notes are ordinary Markdown files. At the current $59 early-adopter price, it is also a small one-time app purchase. Scrintal has the stronger answer for people who need a browser and shared editing. Those are substantial differences, and a team should give them more weight than our preference for local files.
If you are comparing the wider category, start with our infinite canvas app guide. For a closer research-app shortlist, see Heptabase, Noteey and Acres.
Acres Plus is also available for $9/month, including app access, Sync, and Publish with no upfront purchase. The $59 lifetime option covers local use.
A working folder makes notes easier to reuse
In Acres, the note you see on a board is a Markdown file in your workspace. You can open it in another editor, include it in a backup or let a script read it. A card can appear on multiple boards without needing a second copy of the note.
That is useful for a research project which lasts longer than the tool you started it in. You might collect short notes today, turn them into a draft next month, and use a different editor for the final piece. The text stays accessible throughout.
Scrintal uses a cloud workspace. Its documented Markdown export gives you a reasonable way to keep copies of your work. The difference is that Acres uses those files while you work; Scrintal creates them when you export.
There is a format limit on both sides. Acres boards use its own JSON schema, and some note links use an Acres-specific URL. Readable files make inspection and recovery easier, but another app will not automatically reproduce every board interaction. Scrintal’s exported boards become linked Markdown documents, so their spatial arrangement needs to be rebuilt elsewhere.
Compare the subscription with the license you need
The current Scrintal pricing page lists Pro at $9 per month billed annually, or $108 per year, with unlimited docs, boards and file uploads, plus collaboration. We checked the rendered pricing page on September 30, 2026.
Acres costs $59 once at the early-adopter price and includes future app updates. That is $49 below the first year of Scrintal Pro, comparing app prices before tax or promotions. Its regular listed price is $99. The 14-day trial lets you try a small real project before buying.
For a personal workspace, avoiding an annual app payment is a good reason to put Acres first. For a team, the Scrintal payment also covers shared editing. If that saves you passing files around or maintaining another collaboration tool, it may be worth the recurring cost.
Keep AI and storage costs separate from the app license. Hosted AI providers charge for usage when you use your own key. A local model uses your computer’s resources. Optional Acres cloud services have their own prices.
Offline access and local storage solve different problems
Scrintal says its offline mode synchronizes changes when the connection returns. That claim appears in its 2025 comparison material; we have not performed an offline test of its current clients.
Acres opens notes and boards directly from your disk. That makes it a straightforward choice for working without a network. Your backup routine matters: a folder on your computer still needs protection against accidental deletion or hardware failure.
Internet access is still needed for calls to your online AI provider and for cloud services. If you want AI while offline, set up a local model in Ollama or LM Studio and check that your machine can run it well enough for your work.
Acres is easier to connect to your own AI workflow
Scrintal advertises an AI assistant and links to Gobu for article analysis and studying. Those are sensible features for a research-focused app. We found no first-party MCP server in the official product and support pages reviewed; that is a documentation finding, rather than proof that no integration exists.
Acres includes a desktop MCP server. A supported client can search notes, create cards, connect ideas and work on boards through the app’s tools. The command-line route is available from the source checkout. Acres for agents explains that setup and its current scope.
The useful question is what you want the assistant to do. A request such as “find the notes about interview scheduling, turn them into a checklist and put the checklist beside the project plan” calls for access to your workspace, not just a summary of a document. That is the kind of work Acres is designed to support.
In-app rewrites, removals and larger layout changes can arrive as proposals for review; additive actions can happen immediately. Activity history and guarded revert cover supported changes, so you should still check an agent’s output and keep backups. Our local MCP notes guide walks through a small first task.
Scrintal wins when the board belongs to a group
Scrintal’s real-time collaboration is its strongest advantage here. Shared research, a workshop or a study group can benefit from people working in the same board. Acres does not provide that workflow.
Browser access also matters if you change computers or use a managed work machine. Scrintal’s research templates and media-centered workspace may already fit the way you study. Switching away would mean giving up familiar habits as well as software features.
Acres is newer and still improving. It does not match every part of Scrintal, and a one-time license does not erase the cost of rebuilding a working system. Try a representative project before moving an established archive.
Move a sample before the whole archive
Scrintal’s Export All produces a Markdown zip. Individual documents can also be saved as Markdown or PDF. Export a small set first and capture board screenshots as layout references.
There is no dedicated Scrintal importer in Acres. Check how a few exported notes behave, including their links, images and other attachments, then arrange them on a new board. You can ask an agent for a draft layout, but it cannot recover positions absent from the export.
Keep the original workspace until you have checked the important material. For personal linked notes you want to keep as files and use with your own AI, Acres is the option we would try first. If the work depends on other people editing beside you, Scrintal’s collaboration remains the better fit.