Productivity · head to head
Reflect vs Tana
The short version
- Only Tana has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Reflect no free tier or free plan option; Tana the free plan hosts only 5 meetings a month with AI transcripts and summaries
- They diverge on capability: Reflect covers Bidirectional links, Tana covers Outliner interface.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Reflect and Tana actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity), founded (2020).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Reflect
- Bidirectional links
- End-to-end encryption
- AI assistant
- Instant sync
- Daily notes
- Chrome extension
- Calendar sync
- Kindle highlights
Only in Tana
- Outliner interface
- Supertags
- Live queries
- AI integration
- Graph views
- Email capture
- API
- Zapier
Both cover
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
- Desktop support
- English language support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Reflect
- Productivitynot Tana
- Collaborationnot Tana
- Task managementnot Tana
- Organizationnot Tana
Tana
- Structured note taking with a graph based supertag data modelnot Reflect
- Automatic meeting capture with AI transcripts and summariesnot Reflect
- Turning notes into queryable structured databasesnot Reflect
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Reflect
- No free tier or free plan option
- Losing your password means permanent data loss with no recovery option
- Shared notes are not end-to-end encrypted despite platform marketing encryption
- AI features send your content to OpenAI servers (30-day retention)
- Mobile apps have limited offline functionality compared to desktop
Tana
- The free plan hosts only 5 meetings a month with AI transcripts and summaries
- The free plan connects only 1 calendar and allows 50 AI queries
- Pro is $30 per user per month at standard price, with $20 shown as an early bird rate
- Max is $120 per user per month at standard price, with $80 shown as an early bird rate
- Integrations and full MCP require the Pro plan
- Dedicated support and onboarding, and unlimited agents, skills and types, require the Max plan
- The Business plan is custom priced, billed yearly and has no published rate
- The free trial runs 30 days
Pricing, plan by plan
Reflect
$10/monthNo published plan breakdown. See the Reflect review.
Tana
Free- FreeFree
- Core features
- Supertags
- Searches
- Pro$10/month
- Advanced AI
- Priority support
- Extended history
Which should you pick?
Choose Reflect if
- You need bidirectional links.
- You work on Web, macOS, Windows, iOS.
- You also want end-to-end encryption.
Choose Tana if
- You need outliner interface.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Desktop.
- You also want supertags.
Questions people ask
- Is Reflect or Tana better?
- Neither clearly leads. Reflect starts at $10/month and Tana at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Reflect or Tana?
- Tana has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $10/month for Reflect and Free for Tana.
- Does Reflect or Tana run on more platforms?
- Reflect runs on Web, macOS, Windows, iOS. Tana runs on Web, Desktop.
- Can I use Tana for free?
- Yes. Tana has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Reflect starts at $10/month.
- What is Reflect best used for?
- Reflect is most often used for productivity, collaboration, task management, organization. Of those, productivity and collaboration are not what Tana is typically brought in for.
- What can Reflect do that Tana cannot?
- Reflect covers Bidirectional links, End-to-end encryption, AI assistant, Instant sync. Tana covers Outliner interface, Supertags, Live queries, AI integration. Both handle Cloud deployment, Web support, Desktop support, English language support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Reflect: Is there a free tier?
No. Reflect offers only a 14-day free trial before requiring $10/month (billed annually). There is no free plan.
SourceReflect: Does Reflect work offline?
Yes, editing and note-taking work offline on desktop. Mobile apps have offline limitations compared to the desktop experience.
SourceReflect: How secure is my data?
Reflect uses end-to-end encryption with XChaCha20-Poly1305. An independent audit by Doyensec found no vulnerabilities. However, audio for transcription and text sent to AI features are processed by OpenAI servers (retained 30 days per OpenAI policy).
SourceReflect: Can I export my notes?
Yes. Reflect allows export of your notes, though the primary export method involves using their web and iOS apps with standard export capabilities.
Source