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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Desktop App

Foam

A free note-taking and linking system that lives inside VS Code.

Visit Foam4.4

  • Rating

    4.4 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Intermediate

  • Works on

    macOS, Windows, Linux

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What is Foam?

Foam is a personal knowledge management and sharing system built on Visual Studio Code and GitHub. It supports wikilinks, backlinks, a graph of how your notes connect, daily notes, templates, tags and note embeds, and notes can optionally be published to the web. The README says it is still a work in progress.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what Foam does well

  • Notes are plain Markdown files you own
  • Graph and backlinks show how ideas connect
  • Free, with no account

Cons: where it falls short

  • Requires VS Code
  • The README warns it is still alpha-grade in places

Who Foam is for

People who already work in VS Code and want linked notes in the same place.

Who can skip it

Anyone who wants a polished stand-alone notes app.

Foam alternatives

Not sold on Foam? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Note-Taking resources

SiYuan

Focus: second brain, block editor and flashcards. Shares backlinks and open source with Foam. Adds iOS and Android. Rated 4.7 (Foam: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.7Visit

nb

Focus: bookmarks and command line. Shares notes and open source with Foam. Adds Offline. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.5Visit

Alexandrie

Focus: knowledge base, latex and offline-first. Shares markdown and open source with Foam. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.5Visit

Trilium Notes

Focus: knowledge base and self-hosted. Shares notes and open source with Foam. Adds Web and Offline. Rated 4.6 (Foam: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit

Reor

Focus: AI, PKM and Semantic Search. Shares Notes and Markdown with Foam. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit

Free alternatives to Foam

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

zk

Focus: zettelkasten, markdown notes and command line. Shares open source and github with Foam. Adds Offline. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux
4.5Visit

claude-obsidian

Focus: obsidian, claude code and second brain. Shares notes and open source with Foam. An AI tool, not a desktop app. Rated 4.8 (Foam: 4.4).

AI ToolFreemacOS, Windows
4.8Visit

Flatnotes

Focus: markdown notes, self-hosted and search. Shares open source and github with Foam. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.5Visit

Joplin

Focus: encryption and evernote alternative. Shares notes and markdown with Foam. Adds Android and iOS. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.5Visit

TiddlyWiki

Focus: wiki, notebook and single file. Shares open source and github with Foam. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web and Offline. Rated 4.5 (Foam: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Offline
4.5Visit

Memos

Focus: quick notes, self-hosted and journaling. Shares markdown and open source with Foam. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (Foam: 4.4).

Web AppFreeWeb, Cross-Platform
4.7Visit
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