Review · Business & work
Heptabase review
Visual knowledge base with whiteboards, cards and an AI agent for learning from PDFs, videos and web pages.
By the DBotMaker research desk · Updated November 9, 2026
- Capabilities (40%)
- 8.8
- Ease of setup (30%)
- 7.6
- Value (30%)
- 8.4
Heptabase is for people who learn by laying ideas out. You bring in PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos, podcasts or Readwise and Zotero highlights, then break each source into cards on a whiteboard, by hand or with AI, and follow citations back to the original. Nested tags and databases give your knowledge structure, and daily journals, bi-directional links and offline access cover everyday notes. The AI agent can run skills such as breaking down a book, and AI Tutor turns a goal into a personalized course. A plugin lets Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex and Grok Bot work with your knowledge base. Pro costs $8.99 a month with yearly billing selected and includes unlimited notes and whiteboards, but its AI agent uses Gemini models only with 100 credits a month. Premium at $17.99 adds GPT and Claude, unlimited PDF parsing and 1,800 credits. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial.
Who it is for
Learners and researchers who think visually and want AI help breaking sources into connected cards.
Price
Pro $8.99 per month, Premium $17.99 and Premium+ $53.99, with yearly billing selected; 7-day trial.
Pro $8.99 / month
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 9, 2026.
Key features
- Whiteboards that break PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos and podcasts into cards
- AI agent on every plan, with GPT, Claude and Gemini models from Premium
- AI Tutor that turns a learning goal into a personalized course
- Nested tags, databases and bi-directional links
- Plugin for Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex and Grok Bot, plus MCP and CLI
Strengths and weaknesses
- Strength: Unlimited notes, whiteboards and collaborator invites on Pro
- Strength: Desktop apps for Mac, Windows and Linux plus mobile apps
- Strength: Imports from Readwise and Zotero
- Weakness: No permanent free plan
- Weakness: Pro limits the AI agent to Gemini models and 100 AI credits a month
- Weakness: The whiteboard approach takes longer to learn than a simple notepad
Key facts
- AI credits: 100 Pro, 1,800 Premium, 8,100 Premium+ per month
- Plans: Pro, Premium, Premium+
- Yearly discount: Save 25%
Where it ranks
Heptabase is No. 7 in our Best AI Note-Taking Apps verdict.
Alternatives we scored
Visit heptabase.com · Questions or corrections: editorial@dbotmaker.io