SumizAI vs Iotas

What Iotas is

What Iotas is

Iotas is a simple notes app built specifically for the GNOME desktop — written in GTK4 and libAdwaita, so it looks and behaves like a native part of the Linux desktop rather than a port from another platform. The project is developed as part of the GNOME ecosystem (hosted under the World group on GNOME's GitLab) and distributed through Flathub, which makes installation straightforward on most distributions.

Key features

Sync with Nextcloud Notes over a REST API lets you keep notes on your own server instead of a vendor's cloud, setting Iotas apart from notebooks locked to a single platform. The app detects sync conflicts between a locally saved file and the version on the server, so offline editing doesn't quietly lose changes once you're back online. The editor supports Markdown, basic full-text search, note categorization, and three syntax-highlighting styles for marking important fragments of text. Spell checking runs live as you type.

Who it's for

Iotas mainly appeals to GNOME users who want a notes app that matches the look and behavior of the rest of their desktop, though it isn't strictly limited to that environment. People already running their own Nextcloud instance for file storage will find a natural extension of infrastructure they already have, rather than yet another account with an external cloud provider.

Use cases

In practice, Iotas works well for jotting down thoughts quickly while working on Linux, with automatic sync to a phone or another computer through a self-hosted Nextcloud server. Someone keeping a technical journal can use the syntax highlighting to mark code fragments or terminal commands among regular note text.

Pricing and business model

Iotas is free and open source, distributed through Flathub with no fees and no premium tier — a typical model for apps developed within the GNOME community, sustained by volunteer work and, indirectly, by donations to the GNOME Foundation's infrastructure.

Limitations and what to watch for

Sync requires your own Nextcloud instance — without access to one, the app works purely locally, with no way to reach your notes from a second device. Iotas is optimized for GNOME, and while it technically runs on other Linux desktop environments, the visual integration is weaker there.

AI notes pasted in by hand from conversations

Iotas has no built-in integration with language models, so keeping an ai notes entry from a conversation with an AI assistant requires pasting the text manually into a new note. Markdown support helps preserve the formatting of such an ai notes entry, but sync through Nextcloud means every ai notes first lands on your own server before appearing on other devices.

What's worth checking before choosing

Before installing, check whether your Nextcloud instance supports the Notes app with the right API, since Iotas's sync relies specifically on that mechanism rather than standard WebDAV file sync.

Bottom line

Iotas is a lightweight, native notes app for GNOME with sync through your own Nextcloud server — a good fit for anyone who already runs one and wants a notes app matching the rest of their desktop. Anyone who wants ai notes from AI conversations to land in an archive automatically should consider a tool built around that workflow.

Development inside the GNOME community

Being part of the official GNOME ecosystem (the World group on GitLab) means Iotas benefits from the same CI/CD infrastructure and release process as other GNOME apps, which typically translates into regular, predictable updates synced with the desktop environment's overall release cycle.

Comparison with SumizAI

Iotas and SumizAI differ in where note content comes from. Iotas is a notes app for handwritten-by-you content, synced through your own Nextcloud server, with no built-in AI. SumizAI generates these notes directly from a conversation with an AI model — you bring your own API key to one of seven providers, including Anthropic and OpenAI, and answers worth keeping land automatically as Markdown files in a vault on your own disk. Anyone who wants a lightweight notes app integrated with GNOME and their own Nextcloud will pick Iotas; anyone who wants these notes from AI conversations to build an archive without manual copying will find SumizAI the better-fitting tool.

What SumizAI is

A note-taking application built around a conversation with an AI model. You ask a question, the answer streams back, and the answers worth keeping become Markdown notes — filed into a vault that is a folder on your own disk.

A vault is a directory holding base.md, a generated table of contents up to six levels deep, and a notes/ folder with one .md file per note. Before a note is written it is checked against the ones already there, so the fourth note about the same idea gets merged instead of added. Links between notes are ordinary Markdown links to files that exist.

The model is never ours: you bring your own API key to one of seven providers — Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Groq, OpenRouter, a local Ollama or your own server — and pay that provider directly. A question sends the table of contents plus at most five relevant notes within a 24,000-character budget, and the app shows you which five it used.

Every answer kept this way becomes one of these ai notes, ready to search again months later without hunting back through old chats.

Side by side

Where they differ

• AlternativeTo's description of Iotas does not mention an AI model. That is the whole starting point in SumizAI: you have a conversation with a model on your own API key, and the answers worth keeping become notes without you filing them.
• Iotas is open source, and SumizAI is not. If reading the source is what decides it for you, that is a real argument for Iotas. The guarantee SumizAI offers instead is structural rather than legal: the notes are Markdown files in a folder you chose, so they open in any editor whether or not the application is running.
• AlternativeTo's description of Iotas does not mention Markdown, so check what format your notes end up in before you fill it up. SumizAI writes standard .md files to a folder you picked, and an unpaid account can still export all of them.
• AlternativeTo lists no mobile version of Iotas. SumizAI runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android.

Which one to pick