The Best Free Roam Research Alternative

What Is Roam Research?

Roam Research is a note-taking software that was founded by Conor White-Sullivan in 2017. His aim for Roam was to create a software that allows users to link their notes together, ultimately creating a web of interconnected notes and information. In other words, Roam is like the Zettelkasten method of knowledge management, but on steroids.

Roam research has experienced quick growth since its founding. In 2020, it was reported that the note-taking tool was already profitable, with more than 60,000 users using its software. In that same year, Roam also raised around $9million in funding to further develop its product.

The knowledge management tool excels when it comes to linking information nodes within the software together. To take this a step further, you can also visualize connected pieces of information in a mind map-like view, which is similar to what Obsidian.md does.

Although Roam excels as a personal knowledge management tool, it offers only basic collaborative features and also has a steep learning curve. Let’s dig deeper into the features that Roam Research offers.

What Are Some Features of Roam Research?

Roam Research is a note-taking app that comes with a twist. Not only can you take simple notes, but you can also use it as a knowledge base for personal or professional use. 

Roam is not a hierarchical note-taking app per se but instead, it focuses on a bottom-up thinking process. The bottom-up approach involves creating bits of information and linking them together to eventually form a bigger picture. Every note that you take on Roam is fluid with no central idea, unlike a traditional mind map. This lets you freely create notes and link them up as you go by.

Similarly to Workflowy, Obsidian, and Dynalist, you take notes in a bullet list format in Roam Research. These bullet lists can then be organized and collapsed to keep things neat. This is a useful feature especially if you find yourself drafting long-form notes most of the time.

However, what makes this note-taking tool powerful is the ability to create bi-directional links between your notes using bracket functions, which link them together both ways. If the page that you’re linking to does not exist, Roam will create the page for you. This creates an in-depth personal wiki page with a web of interlinked connected notes at your disposal.

You can also collaborate with other users on your Roam database. Collaboration can be done either by sharing pages, adding individuals to your database, or making your database publicly accessible.

What Is Roam Research Good For?

There are several use cases for Roam Research. Ideally, you would want to use this note-taking tool as a second brain application to write and organize your notes. It can double up as a task management tool, but why would you want to do that when outliners such as Taskade offer note-taking, project management functionality, and so much more?

Roam Research could be used in these instances:

• Note-taking
• Researching
• Learning
• To-do list
• Personal wiki 
• Business wiki

If you're looking for software that can help you create a web of connected notes, Roam does that pretty well.

What Are Some Limitations of Roam Research?

Although Roam is a good tool to use for organizing knowledge, there are several limitations that come with it.

First of all, communication is key when it comes to project management, and Roam is simply underpowered when it comes to communication. Besides sharing and collaborating on your notes, there’s not much you can do when it comes to communication.

This makes Taskade a better free alternative to Roam Research because Taskade offers unlimited chat and video conferences for free.

Secondly, Roam Research has a very steep learning curve and there are not a lot of resources out there to help you get onboarded quickly. Although Roam does have a community that you can turn to for help and support, you will also come across onboarding resources that need to be paid for. If you’re a beginner note-taker, Roam Research is going to take a lot of effort to learn and master.

Besides this, some other limitations of Roam include its lack of a mobile application and also the fact that it is expensive to use when compared to other productivity tools.

How Much Does Roam Research Cost?

Roam Research offers its software at two simple price points.

Pro ($15/month billed annually)

• 3 private or public roam graphs
• Unlimited editors/viewers
• API access

Believer ($500/5 years as a one-time payment)

• Priority access to new features
• Priority support

What Is Taskade?

Taskade is an online productivity and project management tool that was founded by John Xie, Dionis Loire, and Stan Chang in 2017. The Y Combinator-backed startup aims to help remote teams and individuals get work done faster and smarter.

Taskade is where remote teams get work done. With Taskade, you can organize projects and tasks, change between multiple project views, automate repetitive workflows, collaborate via built-in video chat with your team, and more, via an all-in-one unified workspace. 

Get a headstart on your projects and find a suitable structure for your notes via Taskade’s versatile collection of templates. Simply choose from a wide variety of templates and add them to your projects to get started instantly!

Taskade is a supercharged productivity app that both individuals and teams can use to collaborate on projects in real-time.

Taskade is the best free Roam Research alternative. Get started instantly for free today.

Key Features of Taskade

• Project Views. Visualize your projects in several different ways. Cycle between the List, Mind Map, Org Chart, and Board views to work the way you want. 

  • List View. This is the default view on Taskade. Create new lists with Taskade.
  • Board View. This view lets you work horizontally like a Kanban board. Visualize your workflow and tasks in this full-width view.
  • Mind Map View. This view lets you work in a horizontal tree-structured manner and map out what you have in mind.
  • Action View. Work in table view and stay organized with your task due dates, and more.
  • Org Chart View. Break down larger tasks into smaller ones to help you get things done.

• Zoom In, Zoom Out. Get a bird’s-eye view of the workflow by zooming out on all project views, or zoom in to focus on a specific area.
• Fold/Unfold. Fold (collapse) a parent task/bullet element to hide its subtasks. Indent outline elements with ⌨️ Tab and unfold lists with ⌨️ Shift+Tab.
• Real-time Communication. Chat and video conference with your team while collaborating in real-time on the same page. 
• 500+ Templates. Choose from 500+ templates across 26 categories to improve your productivity and workflows. Customize existing templates or create new ones across your workspaces.
• Multi-Select. Select and format multiple blocks or bulk assign them as tasks to other team members. You can also copy, paste, or indent selected blocks.

• Customize Sub-Tasks. Customize the format of your sub-tasks at individual levels. Choose from headings, numbered lists, shapes, and more.
• Recurring Tasks. Add due dates with start and end times to tasks within your project and set them to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.
• Move Tasks. Move and copy selected tasks to other projects across any workspace. You’ll receive a pop-up notification on completion.
• User Roles & Permissions. Manage collaborators and assign user roles/editing privileges (Owner, Admin, Editor, Checker, Viewer).

• Sort Tasks. Sort sub-tasks/children elements by completed/uncompleted stats or the due date. Task sorting can be accessed from a convenient pop-up menu.
• Search. Search within projects or globally across workspaces and subspaces. Instantly browse and jump between projects anywhere in the Taskade.
• Keyboard Shortcuts. Navigate projects, create content blocks, reorder elements, and complete tasks using a set of handy keyboard shortcuts.

• Team Calendar. Aggregate all tasks and projects in a shared calendar. The Taskade calendar integrates with Google (two-way), Apple, and Outlook. 
• Reorder Tasks. Lists in Taskade aren’t set in stone. Reorder tasks and find them a new home with intuitive drag-and-drop mechanics.
• Project History. See all the changes made by you and other collaborators. Click on the entries to navigate to the edited items within the project.
• Version History. Taskade saves snapshots of your project so that you can restore a previous version of your project with a single click.

• Export and Print. You can export your projects as plain text or markdown files. Attach them to emails, presentations, or for print.

• Cloud File Upload. Share files directly from Google Drive, Dropbox, Instagram, and Box in your projects with our integrations.
• Breakdown Larger Tasks. Organize your thoughts with Taskade’s unlimited hierarchy to break down large projects into tasks.
• Quick Search. Use CMD / CTRL + K to jump between any projects within Taskade web and apps.

For an exhaustive list of Taskade’s features, click here.

Taskade Pros

• Free-forever plan is loaded with features
• Real-time collaboration within the same project 
• Free built-in video call and chat function in each project
• Customizable templates to give you a headstart
• Work and chat in the same window, in the same app
• Frequent updates based on user/your feedback and suggestions
• Tabbed workflow for working with multiple Projects

Taskade Cons

• No custom APIs (yet)

Taskade Pricing

Taskade Free Plan

• Unlimited Tasks & Projects
• Unlimited Members & Guests
• Unlimited Folders & Teams
• Templates, Calendar, Repeat Tasks
• Real-time Collaboration
• Built-in Free Chat and Video Call

Taskade Unlimited Plan - Starts from $5/month

• Everything in Free, plus:
• Version History
• Advanced Permission
• Cloud Upload Integration
• 2-Way Calendar Integration

Click here for more information.

Is Taskade Right for You?

Taskade can be used by individuals and teams working from anywhere. Use Taskade individually or collaborate with your team for weekly agendas, team meetings, note-taking, project management, product roadmaps, and more. 

Make use of customizable board views to visualize your projects into digestible smaller tasks. Multiple board views are available even on Taskade’s free plan, allowing you to get more work done the smarter way. 

Collaborate with your team in real-time with free and unlimited chat and video conferencing available on every project. Automatic syncing ensures that your data is always up to date across devices.

Our customizable templates are available even with our free plan. Find the perfect template to help you get started with your project, and customize it to fit your needs!

Taskade is the simplest way to create task lists, checklists, and workflows. Manage projects and get more work done the simple way with Taskade.

Taskade is the best free Roam Research alternative. Try Taskade for free today.