Tana

Tana is an AI-native workspace built around a single bet: every note you write should also be structured data your agents can use. We rate it 82/100 — the most ambitious knowledge tool on the market for power users, with a learning curve that will frustrate casual note-takers.

What is Tana?

Tana is an outliner crossed with a database crossed with an AI agent runtime. Founded by Tarjei Vassbotn, Olav Sindre Kriken and Emil Ahlbäck, it began as an invite-only beta in 2022 and opened public access in May 2024. In April 2026 the team announced a new agentic meeting product at tana.inc while the original outliner moved to outliner.tana.inc — the product this review covers.

The defining idea is the supertag: attach a tag to any outline node and that node instantly inherits structured fields (text, dates, references, dropdowns) defined for that tag. A line that says “coffee with Lisa about Q3 roadmap” can become a Meeting with attendees, a Project link and a follow-up date — without ever leaving the outline.

Key Features of Tana

• Supertags & live queries: Define a tag once, query across the workspace forever. Build a CRM, project tracker or reading list without ever leaving plain bullet points.
• AI agents with model choice: Tana’s December 2026 update added multi-model support — pick GPT, Claude or Gemini per agent, and feed it the surrounding graph as context.
• Meeting Agent: Joins Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, transcribes in 60 languages, summarizes and links action items to the right people and projects in under 7 minutes after the call ends.
• Calendar & daily notes: Two-way Google Calendar sync surfaces every meeting on your daily page with attendees and notes preloaded.
• Voice capture & mobile: Native iOS and Android apps with voice memos that transcribe straight into your graph.

What Users Say About Tana

On Reddit’s r/Tana and r/PKMS, the most upvoted threads consistently call supertags “life-changing for research” while complaining about the onboarding cliff. On Hacker News, the recurring praise is for the model-agnostic agent design; the recurring complaint is mobile parity — the desktop web app is the source of truth, mobile feels read-mostly. Software Advice and Capacities-vs-Tana comparisons highlight that the free plan’s 500 AI credits and 0.5 GB storage barely cover an evaluation period, so most serious users end up on Plus within a week.

Tana Pricing

Students and verified NGOs get a 50% discount, dropping Plus to $5/month and Pro to $9/month.

Who Should Use Tana?

Best for: Researchers, founders, consultants and PKM enthusiasts who already think in tags, databases and queries — and who run enough meetings to make the agent earn its keep.

Not ideal for: Casual note-takers who want to jot down a thought and move on, or teams that need offline-first writing. Apple Notes, Bear or Obsidian will be less painful.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Supertags are unique in the market — no other tool turns plain bullets into structured data this fluidly.
• Multi-model AI: the same workspace can route different agents to GPT, Claude or Gemini.
• Meeting Agent is a measurable win — under 7 minutes from call end to filed action items.
• Active product velocity: monthly shipping cadence and an aggressive 2026 agentic roadmap.

Cons:

• Onboarding is brutal. Expect 5–10 hours before the system clicks.
• Free tier is too limited to honestly evaluate the AI features.
• No true offline mode; the desktop “native” apps are wrappers.
• Mobile remains a second-class citizen versus the web app.

Alternatives to Tana

The closest alternatives are Obsidian (local-first, plugin ecosystem, weaker AI), Capacities (similar object model, gentler curve), Anytype (open-source, end-to-end encrypted) and Logseq (open-source outliner, no native AI agents). Notion remains the volume leader if you want something the whole team will actually open.

Verdict: Is Tana Worth It?

Yes, if you genuinely live inside your notes and want them to do more than sit there. The combination of supertags, a queryable graph and model-agnostic agents is a real category of one. If you need a quick scratchpad, Tana will feel like overkill and the $10–$18 monthly cost will sting. We rate it 82/100 — held back from the 90s only by the learning curve and the thin free tier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Tana free?

Yes. Tana’s free plan includes 500 AI credits per month, 0.5 GB storage and up to 3 workspaces. Paid plans start at $10/month (Plus) or $8/month billed annually.

What platforms does Tana support?

Web (the source of truth), native macOS and Windows desktop apps, plus iOS and Android. Linux users run the web app.

How does Tana compare to Notion?

Tana is built around an outline and a tag-driven knowledge graph; Notion is built around pages and databases. Tana’s structured data is far more fluid for power users; Notion is far easier to onboard a team onto.

Is Tana open source?

No. Tana is a closed-source SaaS product. Open-source alternatives include Anytype and Logseq.

Does Tana use my data to train AI models?

No. Tana states it does not train models on customer data and is GDPR compliant, with SOC2 and HIPAA listed as in-progress for Q2 2026.