You take notes every day. Ideas, meetings, random thoughts you want to find again later. But honestly? Those notes disappear into a black hole. I used Reflect Notes intensively for two months, and I can tell you exactly whether it’s worth the €10 per month.
Reflect Notes: the company
Reflect was founded by Alex MacCaw, a developer who previously built Clearbit. He sold that company and thought: why are note‑taking apps still such a mess? Too slow, too complicated, or just not secure enough.
The focus is on speed and privacy. Where Notion tries to be everything for everyone, Reflect deliberately chooses less. No databases. No project management. Just quickly capturing your thoughts and finding them later through backlinks.
The interesting part? They use end‑to‑end encryption. Even they can’t read your notes. For anyone writing down sensitive information—consultants, therapists, journalists—that’s not a luxury but a requirement.
Who is Reflect Notes actually for?
This isn’t a tool for students looking for their first note‑taking app. It’s too expensive and too minimalistic for that. Reflect is built for professionals who write and think every day.
Think of it like this: consultants documenting client meetings. Writers connecting ideas. Researchers keeping track of sources. People who journal and want to spot patterns. If you’re dealing with information overload and can never find your notes again, Reflect *can* help.
But it’s not for everyone. Need structure? Want folders and subfolders? Then this will get frustrating. Looking for a free option? Check out Obsidian. Want to manage tasks alongside your notes? Then Notion or Capacities is a better fit.
Features of Reflect Notes
Let’s be honest: Reflect does less than most note‑taking apps. And that’s the whole point.
- Networked note-taking (Backlinks) – Type [[name]] and you link to another note. Click it and you’ll see every place where you wrote about that topic. I use this for people: [[Jan]] automatically links to all meetings and ideas related to Jan. No folders needed.
- AI Integration (GPT-4 & Whisper) – This is genuinely solid. Select text, hit cmd+J, and the AI summarizes, improves, or expands it. But the real win is the voice transcription. Talk into your phone while you’re walking, and Whisper turns it into text. Works surprisingly accurately, even with Dutch.
- End-to-end encryption – Your notes are encrypted before they leave your device. Reflect can’t read them. Governments can’t request them. For therapy notes or strategic business plans, this is essential. But heads-up: forget your password and the data is gone.
- Calendar integration (Google & Outlook) – Every meeting automatically gets a note with participants and agenda. Type during the meeting and everything gets organized by date. No hassle with coming up with titles or saving.
- Kindle & Readwise sync – Highlights from your e‑books show up automatically. I highlight something in a Kindle book, and the next day it’s in Reflect. Combine this with backlinks and you’re actually building a knowledge network.
- Daily notes & Journaling – Each day opens a new note with the date. Write whatever you want. After a month you start spotting patterns. I use it for standups: what I did yesterday, what I’m doing today, what I’m stuck on.
- Web clipper (Chrome & Safari) – See an interesting article? Clip it to Reflect. The text gets saved, not just the link. Useful for research, but honestly: Readwise Reader handles this better.
That calendar integration deserves some extra attention. It sounds basic, but it changes how you experience meetings. No more stress about “where do I put this again.” Open Reflect, your meeting is right there, start typing. Later you search by name or date and everything shows up. If you have 5+ meetings a day, this is worth its weight in gold.
I use the AI feature differently than I expected. Not to write text, but to clean up my own messy notes. After a brainstorm I’ve got 20 loose sentences. Select everything, ask the AI to structure it, and I get a readable summary. It feels like an assistant who actually thinks along.
Reflect Notes pricing
And then there’s the price tag. $1 per month, or $1 per year. No free plan. But there’s a 14‑day trial.
Is that a lot? Yeah. Obsidian is free. Logseq is free. For €120 per year you can also get a year of Notion Plus, which does a lot more. Or you just buy Obsidian Sync for €96 per year and get similar functionality.
But here’s the thing: Reflect is faster. Actually faster. Obsidian feels heavy with large vaults. Notion sometimes takes 3 seconds to load. Reflect opens instantly. If you open your app 10–20 times a day, that really saves frustration.
Are you paying for features? Partly. Are you paying for speed and focus? Mostly that. If €10 per month feels too expensive, this isn’t your tool. If your time is worth more than your money, it might just be the best investment you make.
What should you look out for?
Alright, time for some honesty. Because Reflect isn’t perfect.
No folders. Seriously, no folders at all. Everything lives in one big list with backlinks. If you’ve spent 10 years thinking in folder structures, this takes getting used to. I missed it constantly the first week. Not anymore, but that transition is rough.
The formatting options are limited. No colors. No highlights. No fancy blocks like in Notion. You get headers, bold, italic, bullets, and links. That’s it. If you work visually, this feels a bit bare.
And that price sticks out. $1 per year for a note‑taking app feels expensive, period. Especially when you’re just starting out and you’re not sure yet if networked thinking fits you. The 14‑day trial is too short to really build a knowledge network.
No Android app. If you have an Android phone, you can only use the browser. It works, but it’s not the same as a native app. For a tool that promises mobility, that’s odd.
Task management is minimal. You can make checkboxes, but no due dates, no priorities, no filters. If you’re looking for GTD or project management, this isn’t it.
What do others think?
The reviews are surprisingly consistent. Everyone praises the speed. “Snappiest note-taking app” shows up in every review. That AI transcription gets called out a lot as the best Whisper implementation they’ve seen.
The Daily Note workflow gets a lot of love. People describe it as calming. You don’t have to think about where something belongs, you just write in today’s note.
But that price keeps coming up. On Reddit you often see: “Love it, but $1/month is steep.” Especially students and beginners find it too expensive compared to free alternatives.
The lack of database features is missed by Notion users. They want tables, filters, views. Reflect intentionally doesn’t do that, but if you’re coming from Notion it feels like a downgrade.
And then that folder structure. Or rather: the lack of it. Some people call it liberating. Others get completely frustrated. There’s no middle ground in those reactions.
Reflect Notes alternatives
Does this not quite fit? Then check out these options:
- Obsidian – Free and works with local files. Pick this if you want full control over your data and don’t want a subscription. A bit less fast, but far more plugins and customization options.
- Roam Research – The pioneer in networked thought, but more expensive ($1/month). Pick this if you want the original “cult” tool with a very active community. More features, but also more complexity.
- Logseq – Open‑source and privacy‑first outliner. Pick this if you’re looking for an open‑source option that also works locally. Free, but less polished than Reflect.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free plan available?
No. Reflect doesn’t offer a free plan. You do get a 14‑day trial to test it out. After that, you pay $1 per month or $1 per year. No free option for students or non-profits.
Is there an Android app?
No, and it’s frustrating. You can use Reflect in the browser on Android, but there’s no native app. On iOS, macOS, and web it works fine. Android users are second-class citizens here.
Are my notes safe?
Yes. Reflect uses end-to-end encryption. That means your notes are encrypted on your device before they go to the cloud. Even Reflect can’t read them. Forget your password? Your data is gone. No backdoor, no recovery option.
Conclusion
Reflect Notes is expensive, minimalistic, and intentionally limited. And yet it’s become my daily notes app.
Not because it can do everything. More because it does very little, but does it extremely well. That speed really matters. No waiting, no loading screens—just instant typing. If you take notes 20+ times a day, that’s not a luxury.
The backlinks work exactly as promised. My notes are now an actual network instead of isolated documents. I find things I would’ve forgotten. Patterns show up.
But that €120 per year is still a tough call. Are you a student? Use Obsidian. Just getting started with notes? Try free options first. Want databases and project management? Stick with Notion.
Reflect is for professionals who think and write daily. For people who value speed and focus more than features. For those who consider privacy non-negotiable. If that’s you, the €10 per month is probably the best investment you’ll make this year. If not, there are better options.
