# Baalda vs Reflect

> Baalda vs Reflect: Reflect is a sleek personal daily-notes app with AI, in the cloud. Baalda is a local-first, open-source team second brain on plain markdown.

Source: https://baalda.com/compare/reflect
Site: Baalda, https://baalda.com

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.

## Side by side

| | 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 wins

- 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.

## Moving over

Export from Reflect to markdown and copy the files into a Baalda vault. Your notes then live as files on disk that a whole team can work in.

## FAQ

### 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.