Thinkblot vs Allume
Pick Allume, formerly Muse, if you think on a canvas: nested boards with ink, notes, images, video, PDFs, links and connections, local-first, with shared workspaces and live cursors. It's on Mac, iPad and iPhone, free to start, then $9.99 a month.
Pick Thinkblot if you want pages first and canvas second. Its Curiosity notebook keeps handwritten pages that read the links you drag in, and lays them out on a canvas you join by hand. A tapped line can also become a reminder or calendar time.
Last checked: 27 October 2026 · Compared with Thinkblot's Curiosity notebook
Thinkblot and Allume, row by row.
| Thinkblot | Allume | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | iPhone (including iPhone Duo), iPad with Apple Pencil, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro (the iPad app). iOS and iPadOS 27.1 or later. | Mac, iPad and iPhone. |
| Handwriting recognition | Read on your device. Fixing a misread word changes the text, never your ink. | — |
| What happens to a line you write | It stays ink. When Thinkblot can help, a small blot appears at the end of the line. Tap it, and the line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or time on your calendar. | Ink sits on a board with notes, images, PDFs and links. |
| Tasks and reminders | A box in front of a line makes it a task. Tick the box on paper and it's done in Reminders too. Unticked tasks carry forward. | — |
| Maths | Write a sum and an equals sign, and the answer is written for you. Write “total” under a column and it adds itself. | — |
| Privacy, account and where data lives | No account and no Thinkblot server. Notebooks live on your devices and in your own iCloud. Private Cloud Compute is optional and asks first. | Local-first by design. |
| Sync | Your own iCloud, through Apple's private CloudKit database, on the same Apple Account. | Local-first, with instant sync. Shared workspaces with live cursors. |
| Export | PDF or Markdown. | — |
| Pricing model | Not out yet. Join the waitlist. | Free (limited). Unlimited $9.99/month or $99.99/year, or through Setapp at $14.99/month. |
| Canvas | The Curiosity canvas: pages and finds side by side, joined by hand. | Nested boards with ink, notes, images, video, PDFs, links and connections. |
| Links | Links read themselves: a short summary and the pages they touch. | Links placed on the canvas. |
| PDFs | Not yet. | Read and annotate PDFs on the canvas. |
On a phone, scroll the table sideways.
Where each one is better.
- Nested boards, as deep as you need.
- Reading and marking up PDFs on the canvas.
- Shared workspaces with live cursors.
- A mature infinite canvas.
- Handwritten pages that turn, read on your device.
- Questions marked, and noticed when a later page answers them.
- Years and places become a timeline and a map on the page.
- A tapped line becomes a reminder, a drafted message, a payment or calendar time.
Thinkblot vs Allume, asked.
- Is Allume the same as Muse?
- Yes. Muse is now called Allume.
- Is Thinkblot a Muse alternative?
- If you think in handwritten pages and want a canvas beside them, yes. If the canvas is where you work, with nested boards and PDFs, Allume does more.
- Does Allume read handwriting?
- Allume's pages don't say it searches or converts handwriting. Thinkblot reads what you write on the device.
- Does Thinkblot have a canvas like Muse?
- Yes, in the Curiosity notebook: your pages and finds laid out side by side, joined by hand. It isn't nested like Allume's boards.
How do
you think?
Thinkblot is coming soon to iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro. One email the day it's out. That's all.
Join the waitlistClaims about Allume come only from its own pages, as they read on 27 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars and may change.
Thinkblot facts come from the Thinkblot support page. Last checked: 27 October 2026.