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Work · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Desklamp – convenient and collaborative notemaking on PDFs

Hey HN! I'm Prajwal, the co-creator of Desklamp! I just completed my undergrad, which is where we got the idea for Desklamp. A bunch of friends and I built this because we hated the experience of studying on our laptops. It was boring, and we found ourselves staring at the screen for hours on end with no output to show for it. To make reading more engaging and to make sure we could remember what we read, we built a note-making system integrated with a PDF reader. The aim is to encourage you to make notes! LaTeX support, clipping out sections from the document, linking notes to sections in…

Desklamp is a note-taking system integrated with a PDF reader designed to make studying more engaging. It allows users to annotate documents, support LaTeX formatting, clip sections, and link notes directly to PDF… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Desklamp – convenient and collaborative notemaking on PDFs launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1
    Desklamp▲133

    Remember everything you read and revise faster

    2022 · desklamp.io · its alternatives →

  2. 2
    note.md▲280

    your notes and research documentation now a local LLM Memory

    Jun 2026 · notemd.org · its alternatives →

  3. 3
  4. 4

    The collaborative note-taking app

    2020 · supernotes.app · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Collaborate around what you find online on the Web or PDFs

    2023 · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Hi HN – we first launched Supernotes[1] to HN in April 2020, and since then Tobias and I (it's just the two of us) have put in the work to make what we hope is an amazing note-taking app. Although the note-taking / personal knowledge management landscape is incredibly competitive at the moment (with lots of great apps adding great new features every day), we think that with the newly released Supernotes 2 we're keeping pace and delivering a unique and satisfying knowledge management experience. Here's the combination of features that make us stand out: - a powerful markdown-based…

    2022 · supernotes.app · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Create and share amazing sketchnotes in 5 mins

    2021 · news-cloud.co.uk · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Take notes easily from your books in PDF

    2021 · nowledge.xyz · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Open-source shared notes with Markdown & Mermaid support

    2025 · its alternatives →

  10. 10
    NoteBuddy▲142

    Collaborate with others live using an online notebook.

    2020 · gamebaidoithuong85.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    You simply: 1. Connect your device. 2. Create a top-level `handwritten.blog` folder. 3. Every new notebook in that folder becomes a draft on https://handwritten.blog/ I hope this eventually obviates the need to look at the ugly upload interface you have to use to now upload your writing.

    Jul 2026 · handwritten.blog · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Notes for real time collaboration

    2023 · news.zoom.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13NE
  14. 14

    As a native Windows user who switched to macOS a few years back, one thing I never got over was the simplicity and usefulness of the old school Notepad app. This app aims to recreate that very same experience, cross-platform and easily installable as a PWA. I've been using this for personal use for around 2 years and I figured it was time to share it with the world. Criticism, issues and PRs are welcome. Thanks!

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15
  16. 16
    Grid Note▲130

    A smart way to note with structured layouts 📝

    2018 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    A GTK3 hierarchical markdown notetaking application with tablet support. - blackhole89/notekit

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18
    RexPad▲86

    Nimble collaborative note-taking.

    2018 · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    A delightful freeform notetaking experience by Microsoft

    2022 · apps.microsoft.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20TA

    Hey all! I created TalkNotes few weeks ago and it started getting traction in hours. It quickly went from 0 -> $700 revenue with One time payment and I decided to remove the one time payment, the line went straight down but since then it rising little by little and has now reached $150 MRR. I'm stoked since this is one of my best projects. The idea is to speak freely into a microphone about anything on your mind—meetings, emails, tasks—and let AI help organize it all. It turns your thoughts into a structured to-do list, notes, flashcards, and more. I created it because spending 15 minutes…

    2025 · talknotes.tech · its alternatives →

  21. 21
    Portals▲128

    I'm building a workspace for doing focus work while also managing constant multi-tasking and context-switching that's required in a lot of roles. Currently this is done by using a notes system where we can split-screen AI chat, an object-based data table system for tracking entities, as well as viewing other documents. We can define agents directly from documents by giving instructions in plain language and then defining the trigger conditions. This helps automate workflows directly in the place where we're reading and writing content. I'm continuing to experiment with instructions and…

    2025 · useportals.dev · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    PDF editor designed for all the ways you work

    2020 · pdf-reader.kdandoc.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23
    Bamboo▲114

    Markdown notes with AI under your control

    Jul 2026 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24
    Contexted▲107

    Write, connect & visualize your notes

    2019 · contexted.io · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →