--- title: "SumizAI vs KleverNotes" url: "https://sumizai.com/alternative-to/sumizai-alternative-to-klevernotes.html" date: "2026-08-14T00:00:00+02:00" modified: "2026-08-14T00:00:00+02:00" description: "Looking for a KleverNotes alternative? SumizAI and KleverNotes side by side: price, licence, platforms and what each one actually does." tags: ["ai notes", "sumizai", "klevernotes", "alternative to KleverNotes"] --- # SumizAI vs KleverNotes Looking for a KleverNotes alternative? SumizAI and KleverNotes side by side: price, licence, platforms and what each one actually does. ## What KleverNotes is KleverNotes is a Markdown notes app built by the KDE team, available on Linux (including Linux phones) via Flathub. Notes are saved as plain Markdown files in a folder on disk, organized into categories and groups that map directly onto the folder hierarchy in the filesystem. Key features: A live preview shows the formatted note alongside the raw Markdown, with the preview's look customizable through settings or a custom CSS theme. Notes support the full CommonMark specification with extended syntax, so more advanced formatting elements work without extra plugins. Organizing notes through categories and groups is reflected directly in KleverNotes's storage folder structure, making notes easy to manage outside the app too. Plugin support extends basic Markdown with optional tools — syntax highlighting, quick emoji, note linking, and PlantUML for creating diagrams. The app lets you print notes, add small sketches, and create specific tasks attached to individual notes. Who it's for: KleverNotes appeals to KDE Plasma users on Linux, including Linux mobile, looking for a native notes app that fits the rest of the desktop stylistically. People who value plain text files over a closed database will appreciate direct access to notes as regular `.md` files in the filesystem. Use cases: In practice KleverNotes works well for keeping technical notes with syntax-highlighted code, for building simple diagrams through PlantUML without leaving the notebook, and for managing multiple projects through categories and groups reflected directly in the on-disk folder structure. Pricing and business model: The app is free and open source under the GPL-3.0 license, part of the KDE application ecosystem — no fees, subscription, or premium tier. Development is funded by the community and the KDE foundation, like most projects in that ecosystem. Limitations and what to watch for: KleverNotes focuses on Linux and KDE Plasma — there's no native Windows, macOS, or iOS version, which rules it out for users outside that ecosystem. Plugins that extend functionality are optional, so some advanced formatting elements require deliberately installing an add-on rather than working out of the box. AI notes saved as plain Markdown files: KleverNotes doesn't integrate directly with AI assistants, but because notes are plain `.md` files in a folder on disk, pasting a fragment of a conversation with a language model as a ai notes entry and formatting it with full CommonMark support takes only a moment. Such a ai notes entry lands directly in the folder structure that mirrors categories and groups, accessible outside the app too. What's worth checking before choosing: Before installing, check KleverNotes's availability in your Linux distribution's repository (Flathub is the main distribution channel) and which plugins you need for a specific note-taking style, such as PlantUML diagrams or code syntax highlighting. Bottom line: KleverNotes is a native, open-source Markdown notebook for the KDE ecosystem, with notes as plain files on disk. Anyone who wants ai notes from AI conversations to land there automatically without manual pasting should consider a tool built specifically around that flow. Its place in the KDE application ecosystem: Being part of the KDE application family means visual consistency with the rest of the Plasma desktop and regular updates tied to the KDE Gear release cycle. That's a practical advantage for people already invested in this ecosystem — KleverNotes doesn't look or behave like a foreign app ported from another environment. Comparison with SumizAI: KleverNotes and SumizAI differ in note content source and target platform. KleverNotes is a notebook written by hand by the user, native to Linux and KDE Plasma. SumizAI generates these notes directly from a conversation with an AI model on macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android, turning answers worth keeping into Markdown files in a vault the user owns, with the model provider chosen from seven options on the user's own API key. Anyone who wants a native Markdown notebook on Linux will pick KleverNotes; anyone who wants these notes to arise automatically from an AI conversation will find SumizAI the better-fitting tool. **Key facts** - Price: Free - License: Open Source - Origin: Germany, EU - Category: Note-taking ## 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. ## Where they differ - AlternativeTo's description of KleverNotes 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. - KleverNotes is open source (GPL-3.0), and SumizAI is not. If reading the source is what decides it for you, that is a real argument for KleverNotes. 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. - Both keep Markdown, which makes moving between them mostly a matter of copying files. In SumizAI a vault is a directory holding `base.md` — a generated table of contents — and a `notes/` folder with one `.md` file per note. - AlternativeTo lists no mobile version of KleverNotes. SumizAI runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android. - Both are run from the EU: SumizAI's operator is registered in Poland and the servers are in Germany. Full side-by-side comparison table and pricing: [https://sumizai.com/alternative-to/sumizai-alternative-to-klevernotes.html](https://sumizai.com/alternative-to/sumizai-alternative-to-klevernotes.html)