Alternatives to DEVONthink
A document and information manager for Mac and iOS that stores, organizes and searches files. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
DEVONthink
A document and information manager for Mac and iOS that stores, organizes and searches files.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as DEVONthink.
Keep It
A notebook and document organizer for Mac, iPhone and iPad that integrates with the Finder.
Keep It is a paid Mac and iOS organizer for notes, PDFs, emails and web archives with Finder-visible files and tags, but lacks DEVONthink's automation and versioning.
Evernote
A long-running note-taking app with notebooks, tasks, calendar links, search and web clipping.
Evernote stores notes, clippings and tasks in a cloud notebook on Android, iOS and the web, moving your collection to Evernote's servers with many features on paid plans.
TagSpaces
An offline file organizer that adds color-coded tags to files and folders without a database.
TagSpaces is a free, open-source file organizer that tags files without a database across desktop, mobile and web, though sync relies on third-party services.
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft's freeform digital notebook with sections, pages, web clipping and cloud sync.
Microsoft OneNote offers free freeform notebooks with web clipping in the browser, storing notes in Microsoft's cloud rather than managing local document databases.
Also worth comparing
These listings name DEVONthink as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Tinderbox
A Mac app for making, visualizing and analyzing notes, with map views and automation.
DEVONthink is a paid Mac and iOS document manager with automation through actions and triggers, focused on storing and searching large document collections.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Khoj
Open-source AI second brain that researches across your documents and the web with any model.
Highlights
A PDF reader for Mac, iPad and iPhone that turns annotations into exportable notes.
LiquidText
An active-reading app for annotating PDFs and pulling excerpts into a flexible workspace.
Notebooks
A writing, notes and task app for Mac and iOS that organises documents in nested books.
Karakeep
Save bookmarks, notes and documents in a self-hosted library.
Obsidian
A notes app that works on a folder of plain Markdown files on your own disk, with links between them.
