The Brain goes free for basic version
Started by boringyogi
on 6/23/2026
boringyogi
6/23/2026 1:32 pm
https://forums.thebrain.com/post/we%E2%80%99re-making-thebrain-free-for-everyone-13857793
I love outlining in general but been following The Brain development from many years now.
I love outlining in general but been following The Brain development from many years now.
I'm pretty sure that the older versions (before 13, which for me was the disaster which drove me away from The Brain) also had a free version, so I don't see this as the revolution they're marketing it to be. But as they're a couple of versions further now it might be worth a glance to see if it's improved in the meantime ...
Stephen Zeoli
6/24/2026 8:26 am
Yes there was a free tier with previous editions of TheBrain, but they lacked a lot of the more advanced features. The new free version allows you to sync your brains and access them online, though with a limit of 1000 thoughts. But, if you don't need to sync, you can use all the features of TheBrain -- with limited access to AI -- for free. This is significant for me, as I am retiring soon and I will only need to access TheBrain on my MacBook, and won't need the Windows version I use in my job. Free will be very nice once my income is a little scarcer.
TheBrain has evolved a lot in the past couple of versions. Among the features I especially like are the two new views: Tree and Cards, which replace the Plex when selected. Tree makes TheBrain UI work very much like a standard hierarchical note organizer, where you see the nested structure in the left panel and the content of each thought in the large right panel. The Card view shows each thought as a card in the left panel organized by date, and the content of the selected thought in the right panel. Those are only two of the most obvious additions. There are many more, though many of them have to do with AI, less important to me.
Steve
TheBrain has evolved a lot in the past couple of versions. Among the features I especially like are the two new views: Tree and Cards, which replace the Plex when selected. Tree makes TheBrain UI work very much like a standard hierarchical note organizer, where you see the nested structure in the left panel and the content of each thought in the large right panel. The Card view shows each thought as a card in the left panel organized by date, and the content of the selected thought in the right panel. Those are only two of the most obvious additions. There are many more, though many of them have to do with AI, less important to me.
Steve
Amontillado
6/24/2026 9:30 am
The Brain was my first knowledge management/story planning tool, and I loved it. Jump thoughts are brilliant.
There were problems somewhere around version 9 for me and I lost data. The last I looked, The Brain is a long way from a local-first utility. All brains go in a single database, at least as far as I recall. I prefer a document approach. That way I can choose what to sync over to my laptop.
I hope The Brain sees a resurgence. It's a great way to find and preserve connections between items in a pile.
There were problems somewhere around version 9 for me and I lost data. The last I looked, The Brain is a long way from a local-first utility. All brains go in a single database, at least as far as I recall. I prefer a document approach. That way I can choose what to sync over to my laptop.
I hope The Brain sees a resurgence. It's a great way to find and preserve connections between items in a pile.
Amontillado wrote:
The data for the Brains are actually stored in very obscurely-named folders (based on thought UUID), where the notes are stored as markdown with attachment in their natural files beside them. The database that controls links and other data elements is separate and wouldn't mean anything to the user anyway when looked at apart from the app.
I've been with TheBrain since version 4, whenever that was, even through the rewrite around version 8 or 9 which seemed to break the major features. The small team has gradually recovered from that -- I think v14 and now v15 is an excellent, fast, responsive app. The web interface is fast and reliable. TheBrain has never been great on mobile platforms but at least it is less bad now on mobile than before. On macOS and Windows v15 is solid.
All brains go in a single database, at least as far as I recall. I prefer a document approach. That way I can choose what to sync over to my laptop.
The data for the Brains are actually stored in very obscurely-named folders (based on thought UUID), where the notes are stored as markdown with attachment in their natural files beside them. The database that controls links and other data elements is separate and wouldn't mean anything to the user anyway when looked at apart from the app.
I've been with TheBrain since version 4, whenever that was, even through the rewrite around version 8 or 9 which seemed to break the major features. The small team has gradually recovered from that -- I think v14 and now v15 is an excellent, fast, responsive app. The web interface is fast and reliable. TheBrain has never been great on mobile platforms but at least it is less bad now on mobile than before. On macOS and Windows v15 is solid.
Amontillado
6/24/2026 10:41 am
Paul Korm wrote:
I'm truly out of step. If I want to work on something requiring anything more than text editing, I prefer my laptop to mobile devices. I'm fine without mobile support for things like knowledge management.
Very glad to hear The Brain is on solid footing again.
Is there a way to separately sync or copy Brains to a second device? I'm not a public storage guy. ChronoSync and an SSD are my cloud.
I know, I should join modern times.
I've been with TheBrain since version 4, whenever that was, even through the rewrite around version 8 or 9 which seemed to break the major features. The small team has gradually recovered from that -- I think v14 and now v15 is an excellent, fast, responsive app. The web interface is fast and reliable. TheBrain has never been great on mobile platforms but at least it is less bad now on mobile than before. On macOS and Windows v15 is solid.
I'm truly out of step. If I want to work on something requiring anything more than text editing, I prefer my laptop to mobile devices. I'm fine without mobile support for things like knowledge management.
Very glad to hear The Brain is on solid footing again.
Is there a way to separately sync or copy Brains to a second device? I'm not a public storage guy. ChronoSync and an SSD are my cloud.
I know, I should join modern times.
Paul Korm
6/24/2026 1:30 pm
Amontillado wrote
Yes, the account you create when you install the brain provides access to a web account. The software syncs your data to the web. A brain (the file with all the "thoughts" -- notes) can be local only, web only, or both. Thoughts can be private or public. The free version allows for unlimited public thought syncing, and limited private thought syncing. If you want all-private web brains then it's $180/year.
The most famous public brain is Jerry Michalski's -- it's a bit over-the-top.
https://app.thebrain.com/brain/3d80058c-14d8-5361-0b61-a061f89baf87
Is there a way to separately sync or copy Brains to a second device? I'm not a public storage guy. ChronoSync and an SSD are my cloud.
Yes, the account you create when you install the brain provides access to a web account. The software syncs your data to the web. A brain (the file with all the "thoughts" -- notes) can be local only, web only, or both. Thoughts can be private or public. The free version allows for unlimited public thought syncing, and limited private thought syncing. If you want all-private web brains then it's $180/year.
The most famous public brain is Jerry Michalski's -- it's a bit over-the-top.
https://app.thebrain.com/brain/3d80058c-14d8-5361-0b61-a061f89baf87