Reflect - a Roam Research knockoff with a few nice features

Posted by steve-rogers
Oct 13, 2021 at 01:21 PM

As a Mac-centric user, Reflect looks very interesting. Based on the (very) limited amount of information on the web site, it seems to compete in a niche with Roam/Craft/Logseq. The visual design looks very appealing. However, I won’t be exploring this software for the time being for a few reasons.

1. The developer requires credit card information just to activate a 14 day trial period. I am unwilling to risk this information for an unknown developer or for a piece of software that I have greater familiarity with.

2. Their roadmap page indicates that Reflect has yet to reach feature parity with it’s major competitors, making it difficult to justify the high cost (in my mind).

2. The software is pricey at $160/year (no apparent option for monthly billing). I am perfectly willing to purchase software or pay for subscriptions for quality software (e.g. Tinderbox, Curio, DevonThink) but this price point places Reflect in a top-tier category. As an academic user, I have access to Roam and Craft at $7 and $0 per month, respectively.

It seems to me the developer of Reflect is making a tactical error by making it difficult to onboard new users with the credit card policy and will also be challenged by competing with established competitors with a full suite of features at that premium price. All the same, I’ll keep an eye on Reflect to see how it progresses over time.