Reflect Review, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)

Reflect began as Alex MacCaw’s networked note-taking company around 2021 and raised just over $1 million through a community funding round. Its original service stored encrypted notes and included daily notes, backlinks, search, calendar context, web capture, and mobile access. In July 2026, MacCaw introduced Reflect Open, a rebuilt local-first app using ordinary Markdown as its source of truth. The Mac app is free and open source, while an iPhone beta is available through TestFlight. Optional AI, transcription, and sync use connected providers or storage. Reflect Pro is listed at $9.99 monthly or $99 yearly in the US App Store, with regional prices varying. Reflect remains independent; SmartBear’s January 2024 acquisition of a separate AI web-testing product called Reflect does not concern Reflect Notes.

A typical workflow begins in a daily note, where users capture writing, meetings, tasks, links, screenshots, and audio. Wiki links connect notes, while backlinks and tags reveal those connections. The Chrome extension saves selected text and page context, and Apple Calendar events can appear beside a daily note. Reflect Open provides a live-preview Markdown editor, local full-text search, optional on-device semantic search, task views, attachments, contacts, and a command-line interface. AI chat answers questions across notes with citations, and selected text can be rewritten, summarized, translated, or processed with a saved prompt. Private notes are excluded from AI requests. The Mac app is free, with optional AI, transcription, and sync using connected providers or storage. iPhone and iPad Pro plans cost $9.99 monthly or $99 yearly.

Reflect Open replaces the earlier proprietary note database and custom sync engine with Markdown folders, a local SQLite index, and user-selected storage. The Mac app is free and open source, while optional AI, transcription, and sync use connected providers or storage. AI accepts a user’s own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or OpenRouter key, and transcription uses a chosen provider. Requests go directly to those providers, with credentials stored in the operating system keychain. The July 2026 beta added local-first architecture, AI chat with citations, browser capture, task search, calendar and contacts, iCloud or Git sync, and CLI access. The older app’s end-to-end encryption and encrypted assets remain documented, but Reflect Open adds no encryption layer. iCloud or Git encryption depends on the selected service.

Reflect’s pricing is divided by product. The Mac app is free, open source, and local, with optional AI, transcription, and sync connected to user-selected providers or storage. For iPhone and iPad, the US App Store lists Reflect Open Pro at $9.99 per month or $99 per year; regional prices may differ. An older Reflect Classic page showed one $10 plan, but did not state its billing interval, while another older reference mentioned annual billing and a 14-day trial. AI is not included as vendor inference: users provide a provider key and pay that provider separately. During the July 2026 TestFlight beta, the iPhone app was free, but its launch announcement had not set future pricing or timing. Budget mobile and AI costs separately.

Reflect’s portability is a strong defense against vendor failure, but users must manage storage, Git or iCloud configuration, provider keys, and backups themselves. The free Mac app is open-source and stores Markdown locally; optional AI, transcription, and sync depend on connected providers or storage. Reflect lacks Notion’s managed collaboration depth, Anytype’s database and team-workspace model, and Obsidian’s mature graph and plugin breadth. It centers daily notes and keeps AI optional through bring-your-own keys. Privacy is strong for local files, but enabled AI or transcription sends selected content outward. Pro costs $9.99 monthly or $99 yearly through the US App Store for iPhone and iPad, with regional prices differing. Pick Reflect for private, Markdown-first personal notes, especially on Mac.