Tana is the new darling of the productivity world, attracting power users who've outgrown Notion and Obsidian. Its supertag-based organizational system is unlike anything else on the market, and the Android app on Google Play brings this powerful workspace to your phone for capturing and accessing notes on the go.
The note-taking app for people who take notes seriously.
What is Tana?
Tana is a next-generation knowledge management tool that rethinks how information should be organized. Instead of folders and pages (like Notion) or links and tags (like Obsidian), Tana uses "supertags" — structured data types that you define and apply to any piece of information. Tag a note as #meeting and Tana automatically prompts you for attendees, date, action items, and decisions. Tag something as #book and it asks for author, rating, and key takeaways. Every tagged item becomes queryable, filterable, and viewable in dynamic lists, tables, calendars, and graphs. The Android app syncs your workspace and lets you capture and access notes anywhere.
Key Features
Tana pushes the boundaries of what a note-taking app can be:
- Supertags — Define structured data types with custom fields. #project has fields for status, deadline, team. #recipe has ingredients, cook time, difficulty. Every tag creates a queryable database automatically
- AI integration — Built-in AI that understands your workspace. Summarize meetings, generate action items, find related notes, draft content using context from your existing knowledge base
- Live search views — Create dynamic queries across all your content. "Show all #tasks where status is 'in progress' and deadline is this week" — no manual curation needed
- Graph and calendar views — Visualize connections between your notes in a graph view, or see tagged items on a calendar. See how ideas and projects relate
- Powerful templates — Create templates for recurring workflows: daily notes, meeting agendas, project kickoffs. Templates auto-populate with context-aware defaults
- Outliner-based editing — Everything is a bullet point that can be expanded, collapsed, and reorganized. Infinitely nestable, incredibly flexible
- Quick capture on Android — Capture notes, voice memos, and ideas from your phone that sync immediately to your workspace
How It Compares
- vs. Notion — Notion uses pages and databases; Tana uses supertags and live queries. Tana is more powerful for structured data but harder to learn. Notion has a better mobile experience currently. Notion is free for personal use; Tana charges $8-16/mo
- vs. Obsidian — Obsidian stores everything as local Markdown files; Tana is cloud-based. Obsidian has a stronger plugin ecosystem and privacy story. Tana's supertags are more powerful than Obsidian's tags for structured data
- vs. Roam Research — Roam pioneered the bidirectional linking that Tana builds on, but Tana's supertags add a structured data layer that Roam doesn't have. Roam costs $15/mo; Tana starts at $8/mo
- vs. Logseq — Logseq is free, open-source, and local-first. Tana is cloud-based and paid but more powerful for structured knowledge management
Pricing
Free (Beta)
$0
Limited nodes and AI credits during beta period. Full feature access to evaluate the platform
Tana Core
$8/month
Unlimited nodes, supertags, views, and templates. Basic AI features. Mobile app access
Tana Pro
$16/month
Everything in Core plus advanced AI features, API access, priority support, and team collaboration
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Most powerful organizational system of any note-taking app — supertags are genuinely revolutionary
- AI is deeply integrated with your knowledge base, not just a generic chatbot bolt-on
- Incredibly flexible — adapts to any workflow from GTD to Zettelkasten to custom systems
- Active development with frequent feature updates and responsive developer team
- Live search views eliminate manual organization — information surfaces itself
- Android app enables capturing notes on-the-go that integrate seamlessly
Cons
- Steep learning curve — expect 2-4 weeks to become proficient with supertags and views
- Android app is still maturing — desktop experience is significantly more polished
- Cloud-only with no local/offline mode — requires internet for full functionality
- Still in early access — some features are incomplete and the platform is evolving rapidly
Our Verdict
Tana is the most ambitious note-taking app we've tested on Android. If you're willing to invest time learning its supertag system, the payoff is enormous — your notes become a living, queryable knowledge base rather than a static collection of pages. The Android app makes it practical for daily use with quick capture and sync. It's not for casual note-takers, but for power users who want their information system to work as hard as they do, Tana is the most capable tool available.