Alternatives to OmniOutliner
An outlining app for Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro for structuring ideas and documents. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
OmniOutliner
An outlining app for Mac, iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro for structuring ideas and documents.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as OmniOutliner.
Bike
A fast outliner and rich text writing app for the Mac that uses standard file formats.
Bike is a paid Mac-only outliner that uses standard file formats and stays fast with large outlines, but lacks iPad, iPhone and Vision Pro versions.
Workflowy
A nested outliner that organizes notes, lists and projects as a single tree of bullets.
Workflowy is a freemium nested outliner on Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile and web with cloud sync, capping free plans at 100 new nodes per month.
Checkvist
A keyboard-driven online outliner for building nested task lists, checklists and research notes.
Checkvist is a keyboard-driven online outliner for nested lists and checklists that runs in the browser rather than as a native Apple app.
Logseq
An outliner that stores notes as plain Markdown files, built around a daily journal and linked blocks.
Logseq is an open-source outliner on all major platforms that stores notes as Markdown files around a daily journal, without OmniOutliner's columns.
TreeSheets
Organize ideas in a grid of nested cells.
TreeSheets is a free, open-source Zlib tool combining hierarchical outlines with spreadsheet-like nested cells on Windows, macOS and Linux.
MindNode
A mind mapping and outlining app for Apple devices that turns loose ideas into structured plans.
MindNode is a freemium Apple app that switches between mind map and outline views, putting more emphasis on visual brainstorming than columned outlines.
Org mode
A GNU Emacs major mode for notes, outlines, to-do lists and documents kept in plain text.
Org mode is a free GNU Emacs mode for outlines, tasks and documents in plain text, with a steep learning curve for people new to Emacs.
Roam Research
A networked note-taking outliner for connecting related ideas into a graph of linked notes.
Roam Research is a paid, web-based networked outliner focused on linked notes and a graph of ideas rather than columns and attachments.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Scrivener
A writing app for drafting and organising long documents such as novels, screenplays and theses.
Ulysses
A focused writing app for Mac, iPad and iPhone with project management, sync and export.
Effie
A minimalist writing app combining notes, outlines and mind maps, with an optional AI assistant.
Notebooks
A writing, notes and task app for Mac and iOS that organises documents in nested books.
Freeplane
Mind mapping and knowledge management that goes far beyond drawing bubbles, with scripting, conditional styles and attributes.
Tinderbox
A Mac app for making, visualizing and analyzing notes, with map views and automation.
