In my opinion, Dynalist is the better product. It has far more features, while still giving you the ability to keep it simple. If you don’t need the extra features, then you don’t need to use them. Workflowy is an excellent product for minimalist needs, but there are limits to how many items you can add to the free account, and after an intensive week of software comparison at work, I hit them. I don’t think you can get away without the paid account which is about half of the cost of Dynalist. Below I go into the specifics of my experience with each service’s features.

FYI, if you are thinking about using Dynalist, they are having a sale for Dynalist Pro for 50% off with coupon code: XMAS18. The code will be valid until January 4, 2019, 11:59 P.M. EST. This coupon will make the cost less for a Dynalist subscription for one year than a Workflowy subscription. As you will read, when I started this I didn’t think I needed the subscription and still don’t find it a necessity, but with it being half off, I purchased it to support development.

  • Dynalist

    • Pros

      • Multiple Documents
      • Free plan has unlimited documents
        • Pro features don’t having anything that I need. I will just backup to PDF if necessary.
      • Dark Mode in Free version
      • Setting Customizations
        • View Markdown Image inline
        • List Density: Comfortable, Cozy, Compact
        • Highlight Current Item
      • Link to Other Dynalist Documents Test List - Uses Markdown
      • Pro Features
        • Inbox for Capturing/Clipping
        • Google Drive Backup
        • Custom CSS
        • Paid Account can import documents. Quota is 1 GB per month.
      • Sharing can be done with free account
      • Text and Outline Formatting
        • Markdown Support - But not mandatory.
          • Italics
          • Bold
          • Code Formatting
          • Strikethrough
          • Links
          • Hover over image to view or Images can be viewed inline
        • Headers can be H1, H2, H3
        • Lines can be highlighted to different colors
        • Check Boxes
          • Indenting under a check box creates checkbox automatically
        • Numbered Children
      • Discourse Forum
        • Easy to keep track of read posts
        • Easy to search for posts
        • Very active forum
      • Easy to Search All Documents at Once - Ctrl/Cmd + Enter/Return

    • Cons

      • $96 a year for pro features
      • In Dark mode when using Ctrl+P to Print as PDF doesn’t allow for Adobe Acrobat to OCR text. If not in Dark mode you can OCR the text
      • There is no direct print and therefore doesn’t have OCR by default (even without Dark Mode on) but it was easy enough to OCR the document with Acrobat.

    • Deal-Breakers

  • Workflowy

    • Pros

      • $50 a year
      • Easy to search
      • Print to PDF worked correctly with OCR automatically done

    • Cons

      • Free plan only have 250 lines per month
      • No Markdown Support
      • No Code Support
      • No Dark Mode in Free Version
      • Limited Customization Settings
      • Password Protected Sharing Requires Pro
      • Zendesk Forum
        • Not easy to keep track of posts you’ve read
        • Not great at searching
        • Somewhat active forum

    • Deal-Breakers

      • One Document for everything.

  • Draws

    • iOS App
    • Mac App
    • Windows App
    • Export to OPML, HTML, Plain Text
    • Print
    • Paste to Import OPML
    • Can Complete Lines - Completed is shown with Strike through
    • Export can be select for individual branches branch
    • Pro Features
      • Dropbox Backups

  • Resources