Dynalist vs outl
Dynalist
dynalist.io
outl
outl.appSide by side
| Figure | Dynalist | outl |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7.99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 2 |
| Spec score · Outliner Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.5 (#8) |
| Spec score · Outlining Software | 9.3 (#1) | 8.5 (#7) |
| Company facts | Crunchbase lists Dynalist as a private Toronto, Ontario company with 11–50 employees and founders Erica Xu and Shida Li. | No headquarters, legal corporate entity, funding information, or founded year is stated on the maker's pages or the maintainer profile. |
| Mobile availability | The download page links to mobile apps and the product has official iOS and Android listings. | iOS is distributed through public TestFlight and Android through sideloaded APK beta releases rather than official app stores. |
| Notable news | The official changelog records the public API launch in July 2018 and major feature updates through June 2020. | The project blog records September 2026 fixes for Lua sandbox access, mDNS discovery, and a duplicate-create/undo tree bug. |
| Offline use | The Windows desktop app is described as usable offline, and the features page also lists offline work through the desktop app. | Notes can be edited without a network connection, and devices on the same Wi-Fi can sync directly without internet access. |
| Support | The Free plan includes community support, while Pro includes priority email support. | Users are directed to Discord for questions and GitHub issues for bugs. |
| What it does | Dynalist is an outlining application for capturing ideas and organizing tasks in nested lists. | outl is a local-first Markdown outliner and daily-journal application whose tree data is synchronized between devices. |
Plans
In their own words
Dynalist
Dynalist is an outlining app for capturing ideas and developing them into plans, projects, brainstorms, or notes. Users can nest outline items and documents without a stated depth limit, turn lists into checklists, and add dates that can be filtered by date and time. Tags, sorting, and links between items help organize content; search, flat search, item finder, bookmarks, and folding provide navigation options. Dynalist supports Markdown, backlinks, and real-time collaboration, and exports content as formatted HTML, plain text, or OPML. File attachments can be up to 50 MB. Offline work is available through the desktop app. The Free plan costs nothing and includes unlimited items and documents, five bookmarks, and community support. Pro adds unlimited bookmarks, Google Calendar integration, daily backups to Dropbox or Google Drive, and priority email support. The pricing note lists a 14-day trial and an annual starting rate of $7.99/user/mo; Pro is also listed at $9.99 a month billed monthly. Dynalist runs on web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
outl
outl is a free, local-first outliner and bullet-point note app that stores plain Markdown files on disk. Its nested blocks, wiki-style links, backlinks, tags, and daily journal support structured note-taking. Stable block IDs and metadata are kept in sidecar files rather than the Markdown notes. Notes can be edited offline, and devices on the same Wi-Fi can sync directly without internet; device syncing uses peer-to-peer end-to-end encryption and does not require an account or cloud. Markdown code blocks can run Python, JavaScript, Lua, and Rust, with Lisp available behind a build flag. An MCP server lets compatible hosts including Claude, Cursor, Zed, and ChatGPT read and write local notes. Native desktop builds are listed for macOS, Linux, and Windows, alongside iOS TestFlight and Android APK beta builds. The product is pre-1.0, and the download page describes builds as public beta. The macOS desktop DMG is currently unsigned. An optional Docker deployment can run an always-on peer with a full replica of notes. Export formats include Markdown, JSON, and Hugo; navigation includes search, a fuzzy switcher, and a command palette.