Acres is our first pick for personal canvas notes on Mac or Windows. It brings written notes, PDFs, mind maps and AI agents into one workspace, keeps the notes as Markdown files, and costs $59 once at the current early-adopter price. That combination matters when the board is somewhere you work every day, and the material should remain yours after you move on.
We make Acres. This shortlist reflects the priorities behind it: a useful canvas, readable local files, control over AI and a reasonable ongoing cost. It is an editorial recommendation based on documented features and published prices, not a hands-on performance benchmark. The other apps earn their place by solving problems Acres doesn’t yet solve as well.
The shortlist at a glance
| App | Best reason to choose it | App price, checked September 2026 | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Acres | Personal canvas notes, owned files and AI agents | $59 lifetime local use or $9/month with Sync and Publish; 14-day trial | Newer desktop app; no mobile or real-time team editing |
| 2. Heptabase | Connected reading and research across devices | Pro from $8.99/month billed yearly | Subscription; local database rather than a Markdown working folder |
| 3. Noteey | Studying PDFs, videos and audio on a canvas | Free tier; Desktop Pro $99 lifetime | Local projects rather than Acres’ Markdown card workflow |
| 4. Obsidian Canvas | A free canvas inside a Markdown knowledge base | Free app; optional paid services | Canvas is one part of a broader note system |
| 5. Apple Freeform | Sketching and sharing on Apple devices | Included on supported Apple devices | Less suited to a portable library of linked text notes |
| 6. Milanote | Creative briefs and moodboards shared with others | Free tier; $9.99/person/month billed yearly | Internet required on mobile |
| 7. Scrintal | Connected documents and collaborative boards | Pro $9/month billed annually ($108/year) | Cloud workflow; assess exports before committing |
Annual billing means a yearly payment, not a monthly cancellation price. AI charges, sync, publishing, tax and promotions can change the total. Pricing sources: Acres, Heptabase, Noteey, Obsidian, Milanote and Scrintal.
1. Acres: our best overall fit for personal canvas notes
A board gets useful when you can put a source beside a claim, connect that claim to a question, and write the next thought without changing apps. Acres supports that loop with Markdown cards, PDFs and highlights, connections, sections, nested whiteboards, drawings and mind maps. Tasks written in cards also appear in a kanban view.
The notes live in a folder you choose. Cards are Markdown, boards are readable JSON, and you can open the text with another editor. AI can work there too: use the built-in assistant with your own provider key or a local model through Ollama or LM Studio, or connect an external agent through the bundled MCP server. The agent guide explains what it can edit and how to review the result.
Acres is still young. It has no phone app, Linux app or real-time multiplayer editing, and it hasn’t accumulated the years of refinement behind the established tools. Recent releases added content search, launcher imports and LM Studio support; the changelog shows what has shipped. Buy it for the workflow you can use today. The trial is there to check that the canvas, editor and imports suit your actual material.
2. Heptabase: choose it for an integrated research system
Heptabase brings whiteboards and linked cards together with PDF annotation, Readwise and Zotero integrations, a web clipper and a built-in AI Tutor. Its desktop, mobile and web reach makes it a stronger choice when research continues away from your desk. Those conveniences are substantial, especially if highlights already arrive from another reading tool. Heptabase’s product page describes that research workflow.
Its desktop app does work offline from a local database. The distinction from Acres is the working format and connected services, not a claim that Heptabase needs an internet connection for every note. It also has official MCP support. See Acres vs Heptabase for the storage and buying trade-offs.
3. Noteey: choose it for mixed-media study
Noteey is worth close attention if your source material is a course video or recorded interview. Timestamped video and audio notes, PDF annotations, floating reading windows and presentation mode give it a different emphasis from a text-first canvas. Its projects live locally, and its free plan is useful for a small collection. Noteey’s feature overview covers these tools.
Acres’ lower desktop license price doesn’t replace those capabilities. Our Heptabase, Noteey and Acres buying guide examines the three together, including the separate costs of cloud and AI features.
4. Obsidian Canvas: choose it for a free Markdown vault
If you already have hundreds of linked Markdown notes in Obsidian, Canvas gives you a visual view without migrating them. Notes can appear on multiple canvases, beside images and web content, and the board uses the open JSON Canvas format. Obsidian’s Canvas page explains the design.
It is free, has a large plugin ecosystem, and supports mobile and Linux. Agents can read its files; an official CLI now supports automation too. Acres earns its place when you want canvas work and agent board tools supplied together. Obsidian earns its place when flexibility, an existing vault or a zero-dollar app budget decides the purchase. Read the direct comparison.
5. Apple Freeform: choose it for a sketch or a shared board
Freeform is an easy starting point on Apple hardware. Put references on a board, sketch around them and share the result. Apple’s user guide covers collaboration, scenes and export. That makes it useful for a workshop, an iPad sketch or a plan you want to show someone.
For years of written notes, evaluate the ability to search and reuse individual ideas separately from the drawing surface. Our Freeform comparison focuses on that choice.
6. Milanote: choose it for creative work you share
Milanote fits a creative brief: reference images, a storyboard, a moodboard and comments from collaborators. Its free plan allows 100 notes, images or links and ten file uploads. Sharing is a central part of the product rather than something bolted onto a personal notebook. The plans page lists the allowances.
Its iPhone and Android help page says an internet connection is required to view and edit boards on mobile. If offline work matters, check the requirements of the client you’ll use. Acres vs Milanote weighs shared creative boards against a local workspace.
7. Scrintal: choose it for documents arranged collaboratively
Scrintal combines linked documents, boards and real-time collaboration. It suits someone who wants a visual workspace shared through a cloud service. Its base Pro plan lists $9/month billed annually ($108/year). Compare the included services with the ones you need, and confirm the checkout total. Its site also points researchers toward Gobu.ai, so check which product contains the AI workflow you want.
Before moving a long-lived collection, try its Markdown and PDF export and check what happens to the board arrangement. Exporting text and preserving a canvas are different requirements. We cover them in Acres vs Scrintal.
A useful trial takes one real project
Bring a short PDF, five existing notes and a question you haven’t answered. Build a board, write a conclusion, close the app and find the material again the next day. Open or export one note outside it. If you use AI, ask it to identify relevant notes before asking it to rewrite anything.
That small exercise reveals more than a feature count. You will see whether the board helps you understand the material, whether the notes remain easy to find, and whether the app fits the way you return to a project. For our priorities, start with Acres’ 14-day trial. For a free Markdown workspace, start with Obsidian. For mobile research or timestamped media, give Heptabase or Noteey the same project.
For a concrete project to try, use the literature-review workflow. If your reading is already marked up, start with turning PDF highlights into connected notes.