Alternatives to Bike
A fast outliner and rich text writing app for the Mac that uses standard file formats. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Bike
A fast outliner and rich text writing app for the Mac that uses standard file formats.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Bike.
OmniOutliner
An outlining app for Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro for structuring ideas and documents.
OmniOutliner adds columns with calculations and attachments, and one purchase covers Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro, while Bike runs only on the Mac.
Workflowy
A nested outliner that organizes notes, lists and projects as a single tree of bullets.
Workflowy is a nested outliner with apps on every desktop, mobile and the web, but it requires an account and cloud sync and caps new nodes on the free plan.
Checkvist
A keyboard-driven online outliner for building nested task lists, checklists and research notes.
Checkvist is a keyboard-driven outliner that runs as an online service in the browser, with sharing options and import and export, rather than a local Mac app.
Logseq
An outliner that stores notes as plain Markdown files, built around a daily journal and linked blocks.
Logseq is an AGPL-3.0 outliner storing Markdown files with block linking and a daily journal on all platforms, though start-up slows with large graphs.
Org mode
A GNU Emacs major mode for notes, outlines, to-do lists and documents kept in plain text.
Org mode offers plain-text outlines, tasks and documents under GPL-3.0 on Windows, macOS and Linux, but it requires GNU Emacs and has a steep learning curve.
Roam Research
A networked note-taking outliner for connecting related ideas into a graph of linked notes.
Roam Research is a web-based paid outliner focused on linked notes and a graph, adding real-time collaboration but losing native Mac files and scripting.
TreeSheets
Organize ideas in a grid of nested cells.
TreeSheets is a free Zlib-licensed cross-platform tool that nests outlines inside spreadsheet-like grids, a structure that takes some adjustment compared with rows.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
MindNode
A mind mapping and outlining app for Apple devices that turns loose ideas into structured plans.
Scrivener
A writing app for drafting and organising long documents such as novels, screenplays and theses.
Freeplane
Mind mapping and knowledge management that goes far beyond drawing bubbles, with scripting, conditional styles and attributes.
RemNote
Note-taking app that pairs outlining with built-in spaced-repetition flashcards.
Ulysses
A focused writing app for Mac, iPad and iPhone with project management, sync and export.
VYM
Mind mapping application for arranging ideas as a tree.
