Synap vs Reflect

Notes are just the beginning.

Reflect is a beautifully designed note-taking app with fast capture and smart linking. But a note is still a document. Synap turns every piece of information into a typed record with properties, relationships, and many ways to view it — on a server you own.

Get started Pricing

Synap and Reflect, side by side

Synap compared with Reflect
Topic	Reflect	Synap
Data model	Documents — no entity system	Typed records with properties and relations
What it does for you	Links and summarizes notes	Turns raw input into structured records
Views	A list of notes	Board, calendar, graph, table and more
Hosting	The main app is SaaS; a separate open-source, self-hosted rewrite (Reflect Open) launched in 2026	A dedicated PostgreSQL pod you own
Changes	Applied directly	Reviewable proposals

Structuring on capture is part of Pod + AI (€100/month). On the Pod plan (€20/month), the agent you connect does the structuring through Synap's tools. Either way, changes arrive as proposals you review.

Where Reflect is strong

Clean, fast note-taking UX
Smart note linking
End-to-end encryption

Where they differ

Documents vs. structured records

Reflect stores everything as notes — rich-text documents with backlinks. A person is a note. A project is a note. A meeting summary is a note. Connections between notes can be found, but there's no way to ask for “all contacts at Company X” or “tasks by due date”, because contacts and tasks don't exist as structured concepts.

In Synap, a contact is a typed record with an email, company, role, and links to deals and projects. A task has a status, priority, and due date. View contacts in a table, tasks on a board, projects on a timeline, or everything together in a graph. Structure enables views. Views enable understanding.

Creating, not just connecting

Reflect's assistant mostly connects existing notes — finding relationships between documents you've already written. It helps you see what you already have.

Synap creates structure from raw input. Paste a meeting transcript and Synap proposes: create three tasks with deadlines, update two contacts with new information, link everything to the project. Unstructured input becomes structured knowledge — and every proposal is visible, reviewable, and reversible.

One view vs. many

Reflect gives you one way to see your data: a list of notes. You can search and filter, but the unit is always a document in a list.

Synap renders the same records in whatever shape fits: a table for analysis, a board for workflow, a calendar for planning, a graph for exploring connections, a gallery for browsing.

Common questions

How is Synap different from Reflect?

Reflect is a clean note-taking app with backlinks and a simple interface. Synap is a broader workspace: beyond notes, it keeps tasks, contacts, deals, bookmarks, and files as typed records. Synap also stores your data on a dedicated server you own, while Reflect uses shared cloud storage.

What does Synap do with my notes that Reflect doesn't?

Reflect uses its assistant to summarize and suggest within its note interface. Synap classifies captures into typed records, extracts properties, detects relationships, and proposes structured changes to your graph for you to review.

Do Reflect and Synap support data export?

Both do. Reflect exports Markdown. Synap exports SQL and JSON, and a self-hosted pod is a PostgreSQL database you can query directly — no export request needed.

Beyond notes. Into structured knowledge.

Get started All comparisons