Last updated: January 2026
What Is Napkin?
Napkin is a digital scratch pad that promises to bring buried notes back to life. Built for thinkers who collect highlights, ideas, and snippets as they consume content, Napkin sweeps everything into a single home, then uses lightweight AI to surface related ideas exactly when you need them for creative or professional work.
Think of it as a personal curator for your own thoughts: always on, always suggesting fresh connections between ideas you captured months apart, never nagging you with cluttered folder hierarchies. Unlike heavyweight knowledge-management suites that require complex setup and rigid structures, Napkin is ridiculously quick to adopt—capture now, organize later (or never).
The core philosophy is simple: your best ideas are scattered across books, articles, podcasts, and random thoughts. Napkin collects them all, then uses AI to reveal patterns you'd never discover manually. It's Zettelkasten without the overhead, or Readwise with a creative writing canvas built in.
Key Features Explained
Quick Capture Anywhere
Hit a keyboard shortcut, highlight a sentence on any webpage, or snap a thought on mobile—everything drops straight into your "Stash." The browser extension works across Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Safari. iOS and Android share sheets send snippets in a single tap from any app.
Capture is deliberately frictionless. No categorization required at capture time, no folders to select, no tags to apply. Just grab the idea and move on. The system handles organization through AI-powered connections rather than manual filing.
AI-Powered Connections
Once a note lands in your library, Napkin's graph engine analyzes wording, topics, semantic meaning, and existing note clusters. The algorithm weighs context to reveal subtle patterns and connections you'd never spot manually.
Over time, this creates a network of ideas—concepts linking to related concepts, quotes connecting to your original thoughts, scattered observations forming coherent themes. What would take hours of manual review happens automatically. For AI-powered research and knowledge work, see flowith.
Daily Idea Surfacing
Open Napkin each morning and you're greeted by five to eight resurfaced notes—a mini "idea lottery" curated by the AI from your entire archive. These aren't random: the system selects notes relevant to what you're currently working on or haven't seen in a while.
Users describe this as the antidote to writer's block. Instead of staring at a blank page, you start with seeds from your own past thinking. The resurfacing feature alone has made Napkin a daily habit for thousands of writers, researchers, and creators.
Visual Canvas for Writing
When it's time to write, drag any notes onto a blank canvas. Shuffle cards around spatially, group related ideas visually, and then turn the arrangement into linear prose. Every card maintains a link back to its original source, so citations and references are never lost.
Export finished work to Markdown, Google Docs, Notion, or your CMS of choice. The canvas-to-draft workflow makes long-form writing feel less like construction and more like assembly.
Napkin Chat
A ChatGPT-style interface that searches only your personal notes. Ask "Give me three talking points on remote work culture" and Napkin Chat assembles an answer drawing from your own captured highlights and thoughts, with inline links to supporting snippets.
This is genuinely useful: instead of generic AI responses, you get answers grounded in materials you've already vetted and found valuable. For general-purpose AI chat across the web, see ChatGOT.
Kindle and Readwise Integration
Connect your Amazon account or upload your My Clippings.txt file, and Napkin imports all Kindle highlights with book metadata intact. Readwise users can sync their entire highlight library. Your reading history becomes searchable, connected knowledge.
Real-World Use Cases
Writers Building Article Ideas
A journalist captures quotes, statistics, and observations over months. When it's time to pitch or draft, Napkin surfaces relevant connections and the visual canvas turns scattered research into structured outlines.
Researchers Managing Literature
Academic researchers capture key findings from papers, connect related studies automatically, and discover unexpected links between disciplines that spark new research directions.
Content Creators Planning Series
YouTube creators, podcasters, and newsletter writers build evergreen idea banks. Daily resurfacing ensures no good concept gets forgotten when planning future content.
Founders Refining Product Vision
Startup founders capture competitor insights, user feedback quotes, and market observations. AI connections reveal patterns that inform product decisions.
Students Synthesizing Course Material
Students capture lecture notes and reading highlights, then use Napkin Chat to quiz themselves or synthesize material for exam preparation.
Pricing (2026)
See official pricing for current rates. 14-day free trial available with no credit card required.
Free — Up to 200 notes, limited daily resurfacing, basic export options. Enough to test the workflow and decide if Napkin fits your thinking style.
Pro — $12/month ($8/month with annual billing). Unlimited notes, full AI connection features, mobile app access, priority support, advanced export options.
Teams — $20/seat/month. Shared note libraries, granular permissions, admin analytics, team-wide connection discovery.
Students receive 30% discount on all paid plans.
Pros and Cons
What We Like
Frictionless capture from any device or browser
AI automatically surfaces related ideas—no manual linking
Daily "idea lottery" resurfacing sparks creativity
Visual canvas bridges notes to finished writing
Napkin Chat grounds AI responses in your own materials
14-day free trial with no credit card required
Kindle and Readwise integration imports reading history
What Could Be Better
Free tier limited to 200 notes—serious users will need Pro
Visual writing canvas currently desktop-only
May feel too hands-off for Zettelkasten purists who want manual control
Graph visualization features have a learning curve
No offline mode yet for mobile apps
Napkin vs. Alternatives
vs. Notion: Notion excels at structured documents, databases, and team wikis. Napkin is for quick capture and AI-powered idea resurfacing. Many users run both: Notion for organized projects, Napkin for creative ideation.
vs. flowith: flowith is a canvas-based AI chat for research and exploration. Napkin focuses specifically on personal note capture and connection discovery. flowith for active research, Napkin for passive idea accumulation.
vs. Obsidian: Obsidian requires manual linking between notes and offers deep customization through plugins. Napkin auto-connects ideas with AI, sacrificing control for convenience. Power users may prefer Obsidian; casual note-takers will prefer Napkin.
vs. Readwise: Readwise syncs highlights from books and articles but doesn't connect them intelligently. Napkin adds AI connections, daily resurfacing, and a writing canvas. Readwise feeds into Napkin nicely.
vs. Roam Research: Roam pioneered networked thought but has a steep learning curve. Napkin delivers similar benefits with dramatically less friction.
vs. Apple Notes: Apple Notes is free and syncs well but offers no AI features or connection discovery. Napkin is what Apple Notes would be with intelligence.
Tips for Best Results
Capture liberally: Don't filter at capture time. Grab anything that sparks interest—the AI handles relevance later.
Trust the resurfacing: Make opening Napkin part of your morning routine. The daily lottery often sparks unexpected connections.
Use the canvas for drafts: When writing, start by dragging relevant notes onto the canvas rather than facing a blank page.
Connect Kindle: Your reading highlights are gold—import them and watch connections emerge across books.
Ask Napkin Chat specific questions: "What have I saved about X?" often surfaces forgotten material that's exactly what you need.
FAQ
Is Napkin available on mobile?
Yes. Native apps for iOS and Android support quick capture, offline reading, and the daily resurfacing feed. The visual writing canvas remains desktop-only for now due to screen size requirements.
Does Napkin work with Kindle highlights?
Yes. Connect your Amazon account directly or upload your My Clippings.txt file. Napkin imports all highlights with book metadata, making your reading history searchable and connected.
How secure are my notes in Napkin?
All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Pro and Teams users can enable two-factor authentication. Data is hosted on EU servers with GDPR compliance.
Can I export my data from Napkin?
Yes. One click produces a zipped Markdown archive containing all notes, with image assets and JSON export for graph data. No lock-in.
Does Napkin replace traditional note-taking apps?
Not necessarily. Many users draft long-form notes elsewhere (Google Docs, Notion, Bear) and use Napkin specifically for highlight capture and idea resurfacing. It complements rather than replaces.
How does the AI know which notes to resurface?
The algorithm considers semantic similarity to recent captures, time since last viewing, and patterns in your existing note clusters. It's designed to surface relevant but not-recently-seen material.
Final Verdict
Napkin is deceptively simple: capture, forget, rediscover. The magic happens when an app transforms buried fragments into living building blocks that resurface exactly when you need them. For the vast majority of us drowning in random screenshots, half-highlighted articles, and scattered thoughts, Napkin offers a low-friction way to ensure those bits never go to waste.
The 200-note free tier is enough to test whether this fits your workflow. If you find yourself actually opening the app daily for the resurfacing lottery, the $8-12/month Pro plan is an easy investment in your creative output.
