Nodum vs Roam Research
An open-source Roam Research alternative, without the subscription
Nodum is a free, open-source alternative to Roam Research. Both are networked-thought tools built on bidirectional links and a graph. Roam is a proprietary, subscription-only outliner with block references; Nodum is MIT-licensed, stores plain markdown files you can export at will, and can be self-hosted.
What Roam Research is
Roam Research is the tool that put bidirectional linking, the daily notes page and block references in front of a wide audience. It is an outliner in the browser, with a strong graph and a devoted community. It is proprietary, subscription-only, and your database lives on Roam's servers.
Side by side
| Property | Roam Research | Nodum |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Proprietary, closed source | MIT — the whole stack, frontend and backend |
| Hosting | Roam's cloud; there is no self-hosted option | Hosted at nodum.md, or self-hosted with one Docker Compose command |
| Your notes are | A hosted graph database; JSON, EDN and markdown export | Plain markdown files, exported as a folder-true zip whenever you ask |
| Linking | [[page links]], ((block refs)), #tags, daily notes | [[wikilinks]], [[path/Note]], [[Note|alias]], ![[embeds]] — Obsidian syntax |
| Graph | Global and local graph, a signature feature | Global and local force-directed graph, GPU-rendered on WebGL2 |
| Pricing model | Paid subscription only, monthly or yearly, with no free tier | Free and open source; self-host at your own infrastructure cost |
| Platforms | Browser, with desktop and mobile wrappers | Any modern browser, desktop and mobile; installable as a PWA |
| Getting out | JSON/EDN/markdown export, though outline structure travels badly | Vault zip of .md files, plus a REST API and an MCP server |
Where each one actually wins
The left-hand column is the honest part. If none of it applies to you, the switch is probably worth making; if several do, it probably is not.
What Roam Research does better
- Block references and sidebar-driven exploration remain excellent, and Nodum has no block-level reference.
- A distinctive, fast outliner that a lot of people think in.
- The community around Roam invented much of this category's vocabulary.
What Nodum does better
- Free and MIT licensed rather than subscription-only.
- Your notes are markdown files, exportable as a folder-true zip, not a proprietary graph database.
- Self-hostable, so the notes survive whatever happens to the company.
- Document editing rather than forced outlining.
- Real-time collaboration, publishing, an MCP server and a bring-your-own-key AI assistant, all included.
So — switch, or stay?
Switch to Nodum if…
- You are paying a Roam subscription for what is, for you, a personal notes app.
- You want an exit that produces ordinary markdown.
- You would rather write paragraphs than bullets.
Stay on Roam Research if…
- Block references are the mechanic you actually use.
- The outliner is how you think and a document editor feels wrong.
Roam Research and Nodum: common questions
Is there a free alternative to Roam Research?
Yes. Nodum is free and open source under the MIT licence, with bidirectional links, automatic backlinks, daily notes and a knowledge graph — the features most people leave Roam looking for. Logseq is the other strong free option if you specifically want an outliner with block references.
Can I export my Roam graph and use it elsewhere?
Roam exports to JSON, EDN or markdown. The markdown export preserves your text and page links but flattens block references, because no document-based tool has a target for them. Import the markdown into a Nodum vault and the [[page links]] resolve across the whole batch.
Before you move anything
Whatever you decide, run this once. It takes ten minutes and it is the difference between a migration and an incident.
- Export from Roam Research first, and keep that export somewhere safe.
- Import a copy into a throwaway Nodum vault, not your main one.
- Open the graph and look for ghost nodes — those are links that did not resolve.
- Export the Nodum vault and diff it against what you put in.
- Only then delete anything.
Other comparisons
Every comparison is on the alternatives index, and the glossary defines the vocabulary these pages use.
Bring your Roam Research notes with you.
Import a zip, look at the graph, export it again. Nothing about it is one-way.