MindWiki vs Tana.
Honest, side-by-side comparison so you can pick the right tool — and so we can point out where Tana is still the better fit.
The short version
Tana is a cloud outliner built around supertags — bullets that double as structured records you can query and roll up. MindWikiis a pages-and-markdown vault on macOS and web, with frontmatter properties on each page. If supertag-style structured outlining is the core of your workflow, Tana fits. If you want plain markdown files, AI clients connecting directly to the vault via MCP, and a managed sync layer with no proprietary format, that's MindWiki.
Best for
MindWiki is best for: people who write long-form, want a markdown vault on disk, and want AI clients reading it directly.
Tana is best for: outliner-native users who think in supertags and want structured fields under every bullet.
Where MindWiki is different from Tana
- Pages on disk, not bullets in a hosted database.
- YAML frontmatter properties on pages — similar role to Tana's supertag fields, but at the page level.
- Built-in MCP endpoint plus REST API; OAuth for Claude/ChatGPT/Codex.
- Native macOS app you actually own a binary of.
- No proprietary format — export the vault as a zip at any time.
Feature comparison
| Feature | MindWiki | Tana |
|---|---|---|
| Atomic unit | Pages (markdown files) | Nodes (outliner) |
| Storage format | Plain markdown + YAML frontmatter | Proprietary cloud graph |
| Local-first | Yes (macOS app) | No |
| Structured fields | YAML frontmatter on each page | Supertag fields on each node |
| Views (table/cards) | Yes (macOS app, over properties) | Yes (over supertag fields) |
| AI access | MCP + REST API for external clients | Built-in Tana AI; limited external access |
| Knowledge graph view | Yes — wikilinks graph | No native graph view |
| Pricing | Free + Pro | Paid tiers |
Migration reality
Tana exports as JSON or Markdown. Migration is roughly a flatten + property mapping:
- Export your Tana workspace.
- Convert each top-level node to a markdown page. Supertag fields become YAML frontmatter keys.
- Nested bullets stay as markdown lists. Block references to deeply nested nodes typically don't survive cleanly — flatten where you can.
- Drop the resulting
.mdfiles into your MindWiki vault path or upload viaPOST /vault/page.
When Tana wins
- Your workflow is built around supertags and live rollup views.
- You want a cloud outliner with a polished UI and not a markdown vault.
- You rely on Tana's AI workflow inside the outliner.
- You're building structured-data-driven notes (CRM-style) rather than long-form pages.
Frequently asked questions
Are MindWiki properties the same as Tana supertags?
They play a similar role but at the page level instead of the node level. You attach properties (area, tags, type, confidence, etc.) to each page and filter/group pages by them in the macOS app's table view.
Can Tana and MindWiki be used together?
If you have an outline-heavy workflow you don't want to give up, sure — keep Tana for outlines and use MindWiki as a long-form knowledge base.