Comparison
Baalda vs Reflect: which second brain fits your team?
Fast, minimalist cloud daily-notes app with built-in AI.
Pick Reflect if you want a fast, minimalist personal notes app with built-in AI and end-to-end encryption in the cloud. Pick Baalda if you want a team second brain that's local-first and open source, where notes are markdown files you own and an AI edits them over MCP.
At a glance
| Feature | Baalda | Reflect |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time multi-user editing | Yes — CRDT, keystroke-level | Limited — personal, some sharing |
| Notes are plain markdown files on your disk | Yes | No — cloud store |
| Local-first (works offline, you own the files) | Yes | No — cloud, e2e encrypted |
| Open source | Yes — Apache-2.0 | No |
| AI reads & writes your files (MCP) | Yes | No — closed cloud AI |
| Per-file permissions | Yes | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Price | Free + Team plan | Paid subscription |
Where Reflect is the better choice
- Extremely fast, polished daily-notes experience.
- Built-in AI and end-to-end encryption out of the box.
- Frictionless for a single person who wants opinionated simplicity.
Where Baalda wins
- Built for a team, not a solo user: real-time shared editing with permissions.
- Local-first plain markdown you own, versus a closed cloud store.
- Open source and self-hostable, with AI over MCP on your real files.
Can you switch?
Export from Reflect and import the markdown into Baalda. Your notes then live as files on disk that a whole team can work in.
Frequently asked questions
Is Baalda like Reflect for teams?
Baalda serves the team use case Reflect doesn't focus on: multiple people editing the same notes in real time, with per-file permissions, while keeping notes as owned markdown files.
Does Baalda have AI like Reflect?
Yes, but different: instead of a closed cloud assistant, Baalda connects an AI over MCP so it reads and writes your actual markdown files alongside you.