We use lightweight, privacy-friendly analytics to see which features land — never your maps, never your AI keys, never sell your information. You can decline; the app works fine either way.
Heptabase alternative — same local-first ethos, with AI PDF→Map and a UK Law pack
Best for visual note-graphing — but stops short on AI and law-domain workflows.
- Heptabase's whiteboard-of-cards model is genuinely best-in-class for visual note-taking
- Strong macOS / iOS native apps with smooth Apple Pencil support
- Deep linking between cards and ideas via tags + bidirectional links
- No AI PDF→Map — you have to build trees by hand from the card view
- No BYOK — AI features are gated to a single hosted provider (their margin)
- No flowchart studio — limited to whiteboard / mind-map metaphors
- No UK / domain-specific case-law pack
- No native Cloud Save mirror to Drive + Dropbox + Zotero
- AI PDF → Mind-Map in 60 secondsDrag a research paper or contract in. Marvex builds a structured tree while you reach for coffee. Heptabase doesn't ship this — you'd build it card-by-card.
- Bring Your Own AI Key — zero markupUse your own OpenAI / Claude / Gemini key. Marvex never sees your prompts and never charges a margin on AI. Heptabase bundles AI on their hosted infrastructure with quotas.
- Flowchart Studio (Pro tier)First-class flowchart canvas with Start / Decision / End shapes — separate from the mind-map view. Heptabase has whiteboards, not formal flowcharts.
- UK Law pack ($10 one-off)Optional add-on for legal researchers: BAILII full-text search inside the app, plus AI-generated case summaries. No competitor in this list ships this.
- Cloud Save mirror to Drive + Dropbox + ZoteroPro tier sends every save to all 3 cloud targets at once — full data ownership across your entire research stack.
Both tools genuinely share these strengths
- Both are local-first by default — your work doesn't have to leave your machine
- Both ship native desktop apps (mind-mapper on Mac/Win/Linux, Heptabase on Mac/iOS)
- Both let you export to Markdown / PDF
Honest take: Genuinely — Heptabase remains a great whiteboard. If your work is mostly free-form research diagrams without PDFs, AI generation, or flowcharts, you may not need to switch.
Switching from Heptabase in 3 steps
- 01Export your Heptabase whiteboards as Markdown (File → Export → Markdown)
- 02In Marvex: New → Import → Markdown — a tree is built from your headings
- 03Re-tag any cross-links manually (the import preserves hierarchy, not card-to-card links)
Try Marvex free — keep your Heptabase subscription if it doesn't click.
Free tier covers 30-element maps with the full feature set. 7-day trial on every paid plan. BYOK means you bring your own AI key — we never mark up inference.
Further reading
How to turn a PDF into a mind map (step-by-step, 2026)
The complete 2026 guide to converting any PDF into an interactive mind map in under a minute. AI-powered, free, no signup required.
ReadBest PDF to mind map tools in 2026 (honest comparison)
Comparing the top 7 AI mind map generators for PDFs in 2026. Pricing, privacy, AI quality, and which one to pick for your workflow.
ReadWhat is an AI mind map generator? (and how it actually works)
Demystifying AI mind map generators: how the AI extracts concepts, why some tools are 10× faster than others, and what to look for when picking one.
Read