$diff onenote mdflow

> the OneNote alternative for people who live in Markdown

Q: What does OneNote do that MDflow doesn't?

OneNote has handwriting and a free-form canvas, plus tags, neither of which MDflow offers today.

OneNote is powerful — but it can't render Markdown, keeps your notes in a proprietary format, and its search and sync are famously hit-or-miss. MDflow is a focused, markdown-native workspace that your tools and your AI agents can actually read.

./start-free jump to the table ↓

onenote → mdflow.diff

# moving your notes
-notes.format = ".one (locked)"
+notes.format = ".md (yours)"
-markdown = false
+markdown = true   # renders perfectly
-search = "sometimes"
+search = "always-on"
-agents.canRead = false
+agents.canManage = true  # full api + remote mcp

$cat frustrations.log

the six things OneNote users complain about

Sourced from years of forum threads and the Microsoft feedback portal — and how MDflow handles each one.

markdown

Paste `## Heading` and OneNote shows the literal hash marks.

MDflow renders GitHub-Flavored Markdown — write it, see it.

your data

Notes live in a proprietary .one binary tied to OneDrive.

Every document is a plain .md file you can download anytime.

sync

OneDrive sync can stall, fail quietly, or need a manual force-sync.

One browser-to-server model; local drafts auto-retry on reconnect.

search

Search sometimes returns only titles — or nothing — until you clear the cache.

Always-on full-text search with highlighted snippets and folder context.

consistency

Windows, Mac, web, and mobile behave like four different apps.

One web app — the same experience everywhere, nothing to install.

agents

No clean way for AI tools to read your notebooks as context.

A remote MCP server + full HTTP API let agents manage your workspace.

$diff --stat onenote mdflow

OneNote vs MDflow, line by line

The honest version — including the rows where OneNote still wins.

swipe to compare →

Feature comparison between OneNote and MDflow
// feature	OneNote	MDflow
Renders Markdown	No	Yes
Write in raw Markdown	No	Yes
File format	Proprietary .one	Plain .md
Export your notes	PDF / Word	.md, or whole workspace as .zip
Full-text search	Often unreliable	Built-in, with snippets
Same on every platform	No	Yes
Clean public share link	Limited	Rendered reader view
Reader comments on shared docs	No	Yes
HTTP API access	Limited (Graph)	Full (Pro)
AI agent access (MCP)	No	Remote (Pro)
Shared team account with roles	Shared notebooks (Microsoft 365)	Owner / admin / member
Per-workspace permissions	Via Microsoft 365	None, read-only, or read & write
API + MCP for a shared team account	Limited (Graph)	Team API, MCP & mdt_ tokens
Team audit log	Microsoft 365 admin	Built in, 365 days
Handwriting / drawing canvas	Yes	No
Nested folders	Yes	Nestable folders
Tags	Yes	No
Version history	Yes	Pro
Price	Free (MS account)	Free · €4.99 / month Pro · €9.99 / member Team

$./why-mdflow

why people switch

$mdflow open

Genuinely easy to use

No vault to configure, no ribbon to learn, no plugins to wire up. Open the browser, make a folder, start writing markdown. That's the whole onboarding.

$curl /api/v1

Full API + remote MCP server

A documented HTTP API with full read and write access, plus a remote Model Context Protocol server — so scripts and agents can manage your workspace without running a local server. Claude.ai and ChatGPT connect with a one-click OAuth sign-in; other clients use a token.

$mdflow context

Built for AI agents

Folder descriptions and document metadata give Claude, Cursor, and Codex scoped context. Your notes become a knowledge base agents can actually use.

$mdflow share

Sharing & comments that just work

Publish one document at an unguessable link — readers get a clean rendered page, can comment on a passage, and can clone their own copy. No account needed to read.

$cat pricing.txt

free to start, €4.99 to go Pro

OneNote is free with a Microsoft account, but it's tied to the OneDrive ecosystem. MDflow is free to start and stays portable — your files are always plain Markdown you can take with you.

Working with other people? An MDflow Team account is €9.99 per active member each month after a 7-day trial — a separate shared account with roles, per-workspace access levels, an audit feed, and its own API and MCP server for agents. No Microsoft 365 tenant, admin, or license assignment required.

Freefree forever

[x]100 markdown files
[x]5 image uploads
[x]Public sharing links
[x]Commenting

Pro€4.99/ month

[x]10,000 markdown files
[x]10,000 image uploads
[x]Full HTTP API access
[x]Remote MCP server

// no card to start · fair-use applies

./start-free full pricing

$git log --author=onenote --oneline

Where OneNote is still ahead

We'd rather be straight with you. OneNote is a mature product, and there are real reasons to stay — especially if you depend on these:

Handwriting & the free-form canvas. If you write with a stylus or sketch diagrams, OneNote's ink canvas is excellent. MDflow is text-first Markdown.
Structured notebook model. Notebooks → sections → pages give a purpose-built three-tier layout. MDflow now nests folders inside folders, so you can mirror that hierarchy with plain folders.
Tags. OneNote keeps page tags for cross-notebook organization. MDflow doesn't have tags yet. (MDflow does keep version history on Pro.)
Microsoft 365 integration. Tight ties to Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and the Office suite are hard to beat if you live in that ecosystem.
Company-wide shared notebooks. Shared OneNote notebooks inherit your organization's Microsoft 365 identity and admin controls — a real advantage when everyone is already on that tenant. An MDflow Team account is standalone: you start one in minutes without a tenant, an admin, or a license assignment, but there is no central IT console behind it.

$cat faq.md

OneNote alternative — FAQ

Is MDflow a free OneNote alternative?

Yes. The free plan includes 100 markdown files, public sharing, and commenting — no card required. Pro is €4.99/month for 10,000 files, 10,000 image uploads, the full HTTP API, and the remote MCP server.

Does MDflow support Markdown that OneNote can't render?

Markdown is the foundation of MDflow. You write in a Monaco-based editor with syntax highlighting and switch between Edit, Split, and Preview — full GitHub-Flavored Markdown, including tables and code blocks.

Can I import my existing OneNote notes?

There isn't a one-click OneNote importer yet. Today you can paste Markdown directly or upload .md files; OneNote exports to Word/PDF, which can be converted to Markdown with open-source tools. A dedicated importer is on our roadmap.

Can AI agents like Claude or Cursor read my notes?

Yes. AI agents can connect directly to MDflow's remote MCP server or use its documented, full-access HTTP API (both on Pro) to read, create, update, organize, share, and delete folders and documents. Claude.ai and ChatGPT sign in with one-click OAuth — no token to paste — while clients like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex use a Personal Access Token.

Can my team use MDflow instead of a shared OneNote notebook?

Yes — an MDflow Team account (nothing to do with Microsoft Teams) is a separate shared account with its own members, workspaces, folders, and documents, sitting beside everyone's personal workspace. It costs €9.99 per active member each month after a 7-day trial and takes up to 50 members as owner, admin, or member, with 50 workspaces and 10,000 documents. Each member gets a per-workspace access level — no access, read-only, or read, write & delete — plus version history, client-side encryption, a 365-day audit feed, and Team access tokens for the Team REST API and Team MCP server. There is no tenant, admin console, or license assignment to set up: you sign up and invite people by email. Being honest about the gaps — comments, image uploads, collections, and favorites aren't in Team accounts yet, and a Team seat is not personal Pro.

Is my content private?

Your workspace requires authentication. Only documents you explicitly share become reachable, via a random, unguessable link, and uploaded images stay private until the document is shared. Sharing can be revoked at any time.

What does OneNote do that MDflow doesn't?

We're upfront about it: OneNote has handwriting and a free-form canvas, plus tags — neither of which MDflow offers today. See the “Where OneNote is still ahead” section above.

$mdflow init

Try the OneNote alternative built for today.

Sign in with Google, create a folder, and start writing markdown that people and AI agents can read. The free plan needs no card.

./start-free →see pricing