Heptabase is a visual knowledge base of cards and whiteboards, made for students, researchers and lifelong learners, with an AI tutor built in. Filamental is a desktop app for the structure you’re building: every node a full document, every connection a relationship you name, arranged in three dimensions and kept as plain Markdown in a folder you own.
A whiteboard of cards is a calm way to lay out what you’re reading and see it side by side. Filamental works on the structure underneath: each connection is a type you name, such as “depends on”, “funds” or “contradicts”, with its own colour, direction and pull, and Dark Energy spaces everything by how connected it is, in three dimensions or flat in 2D, so the clusters show themselves. Ask Pathfinder how two things connect and it reads the route back as a chain of named relationships.
Heptabase’s AI runs on monthly credits that rise with the plan, and the model depends on it too: the entry plan’s agent uses Gemini only, with GPT and Claude on the higher plans.
Filamental has no AI of its own, so the model is your choice on every plan. Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code or Zed over MCP and it reads and edits the open space directly, or add your own key for any provider, or run a model locally through Ollama or LM Studio. Point it at a folder of papers or notes and it reads them into a space, with every node naming the documents it came from. Every request goes straight to your provider, on your account, and nothing passes through us.
A Filamental space is already plain Markdown, in a folder you chose on your own disk or your own network, readable in any editor with Filamental closed, so there’s nothing to export to get your work back. There’s no account and no telemetry of any kind, a restricted drive’s permissions carry straight over, and nothing leaves unless you publish a link, encrypted on your device first.
Working out a structure is lean-forward work, with a full screen, a keyboard and a mouse, so Filamental is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Reading is different: Publisher Studio turns the space into a link that opens in any browser, on a phone as readily as on a desktop, with nothing to install and no account, or a single HTML file.
Every Heptabase plan is a paid subscription, and the plans climb with AI use, the top one at several times the entry price.
Filamental’s Personal plan is free and permanent, with no account and no card, unlimited spaces and everything AI, and a folder of documents read into a space arrives whole however large it is. The paid tier is $120 a year, or $12 a month, and covers handing work over beyond the one live link that’s free, including presenting.
For some jobs. Heptabase is a visual knowledge base of cards and whiteboards, built for learning and research, with an AI tutor and its own AI credits. Filamental is a desktop app for working out a structure and handing it over: every connection is a relationship type you name, the layout can arrange itself in 3D or 2D, every node is a Markdown file in a folder you own, and the AI is whichever one you connect.
Yes. Filamental’s Personal plan is free and permanent, with no account and no card, unlimited spaces and everything AI. The paid tier, at $120 a year or $12 a month, covers handing work over beyond the one live link that’s free, such as more links, updating a link already sent, the HTML download and presenting.
Any you have access to, on every plan. Connect an MCP client such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code or Cursor, add your own API key for the provider you choose, or run a local model through Ollama or LM Studio. Filamental has no AI of its own and no credits, so requests go straight to your provider on your own account.
Yes. Heptabase can export your notes as Markdown files. Open that folder in Filamental and the notes come straight in as a space, or ask the AI connected in Filamental to explore the folder and build a structure from it, with the relationships as typed connections. Your Heptabase account stays exactly as it was.
No, because working out a structure is desk work. Filamental is a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, and a space moves between your machines through whatever sync you already use. Reading is different: anyone you share a link with opens it in a browser, on a phone as readily as on a desktop, with nothing to install.
Choose the classifications, let your own AI read them in, then ask Pathfinder how the two ideas you care about connect.