Dynalist vs TreeLine
Dynalist
dynalist.ioTreeLine
treeline.bellz.orgSide by side
| Figure | Dynalist | TreeLine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $7.99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Outliner Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.4 (#27) |
| Spec score · Outlining Software | 9.3 (#1) | 7.4 (#17) |
| Purpose | Dynalist describes itself as an outlining app for capturing, fleshing out, and realizing ideas. | TreeLine stores information in a tree structure, with fields on each node forming a mini-database. |
| Support | The Free plan includes community support, while Pro includes priority email support. | Doug Bell welcomes feedback, bug reports, and suggestions by email, and the site points TreeLine users to a mailing list. |
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.
TreeLine
TreeLine is a free, offline information organizer for Linux, Windows, and macOS. It stores records in a tree, with fields on each node acting like a small database. Fields can contain plain or rich text, HTML, numbers, dates, times, booleans, and URLs. One file can hold several node types, each with its own fields and formatting. Search commands find node data, while filters present matching nodes in a flat view. Node output can appear on screen, be printed, or be exported to HTML. Files use JSON and may be compressed or encrypted automatically. Import and export cover plain text, delimited tables, older TreeLine files, Mozilla and XBEL bookmarks, generic XML, and ODF text outlines. Additional exports include CSV, PDF, tab-indented text, and TreeLine format. Windows installers target Windows 10 and 11. Linux installation requires Python 3.9 or newer, Qt 6.4 or newer, and PyQt 6.4 or newer. macOS is not formally supported; a third-party MacPorts version is suggested. The free plan is free under GNU GPL v2 or later.