Comparison

TheBrain vs Roam Mobile

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

TheBrain

This app helps you capture, connect, and visualize all your ideas, notes, and files across devices. It acts as a digital memory, showing related items and allowing for dynamic mind mapping and powerful search to help you recall information instantly.

Highlights
  • Award-winning visualization
  • Networked notes with backlinks
  • Dynamic mind mapping
  • Easy idea capture
  • Cross-device sync
  • Powerful search
  • Visual file management
Features
Read full description

YOUR DIGITAL MEMORY. VISUALIZED. TheBrain is the unique knowledge app that helps you capture everything — ideas, notes, web pages, files, photos — and connect it all the way you naturally think. Stop hunting through folders, tabs, and search bars. Start seeing your knowledge as a living network you can navigate with a tap. Described by the Wall Street Journal as "Software that thinks like you do" and MacLife as "the most compelling mind mapping adaptation we've encountered." Winner of KMWorld's Trendsetting Products award. WHY THEBRAIN? Traditional notes apps trap your ideas in folders, tags, or endless lists. TheBrain lets every piece of information connect to anything else — so the right idea finds you the moment you need it. It's note-taking, mind mapping, file management, and AI rolled into one beautiful experience that works the same on every device. KEY FEATURES CEREBRO — TALK TO YOUR BRAIN WITH AI Our built-in agentic AI assistant. Ask Cerebro anything — and let it create new thoughts and notes, surface exactly what you need, summarize long documents, suggest meaningful links, or just have a conversation about what you know. It can do anything you can do — only faster. DYNAMIC THOUGHT NETWORK Move beyond conventional mind maps and folders. TheBrain's animated visualization shows your ideas, their context, and the relationships between them — at any scale. Tap a thought, and the entire network reorganizes around it. NETWORKED NOTES Rich notes shown in context with automatic backlinks and concept discovery. Hybrid WYSIWYG + Markdown writing, powerful tables, resizable images, math, and folding — all the modern editor essentials. EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE Attach web pages, PDFs, photos, and documents to any thought. Link people, projects, files, and ideas in a single living workspace. POWERFUL SEARCH Find any note, file, web page, or idea in seconds. Every match appears in the context of your thought network, so you instantly see how it relates to everything else you know. SEAMLESS SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Your brain is always with you. Mobile, Mac, Windows, Linux, and web stay in sync — even with large brains. Smart Sync downloads attachments on demand, keeping your brain fast and lightweight on every device. INFINITE SCALE Effortlessly handles hundreds of thousands of items and many gigabytes of data — without slowing down. COLLABORATE AND SHARE Publish your brain online for the world, or sync thoughts privately with your team. Great for shared knowledge bases, project planning, and team research. ==================================== WAYS TO USE THEBRAIN • Build your second brain — a living reflection of how you think, ready when you need it. • Manage everything in your life: projects, people, goals, files, and ideas in one place. • Capture interesting articles, videos, and references so they're activated when you need them. • Organize trips, travel, and major life events with all the right context at hand. • Power your research — go deeper on any concept and see how it connects to everything else. • Turn goals into action by linking them with the resources needed to achieve them. • Build a knowledge base that sparks new ideas and breakthroughs. • Link people, projects, and information for a smarter view of your business. • Create topic brains around your passions, hobbies, and special interests. • Plan personal projects like home renovations, weddings, or major purchases. GET STARTED IN MINUTES Start with a single thought — your name, a project, an idea you want to explore. Add a few connections. Within minutes you'll understand why people have trusted TheBrain for over two decades. For the best experience, install TheBrain on your phone, tablet, and computer. Our iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and other mobile clients all sync seamlessly — your best thinking is always with you.

About

Roam Mobile

This app helps you organize your research for long-term use. It functions like a document but offers the power of a graph database for efficient information management.

Highlights
  • Long-term research organization
  • Document-like interface
  • Graph database functionality
  • Powerful information management
Features
Read full description

As easy to use as a document. As powerful as a graph database. Roam helps you organize your research for the long haul.

Screenshots

TheBrain4 screens
Roam Mobile3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: TheBrain at 4.8 against Roam Mobile's 2.6. TheBrain also leads on review sentiment (44% vs 26%). Roam Mobile's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. TheBrain sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month. Roam Mobile asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TheBrain holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 168 and 170 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of TheBrain's written reviews are positive against 26% of Roam Mobile's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TheBrain ships an update every 3 weeks, Roam Mobile every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
TheBrain versus Roam Mobile: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTheBrainRoam Mobile
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (168 ratings) — better2.6 (170 ratings)
Positive reviews44.3% of reviews — better25.8% of reviews
Number of ratings168170 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size252 MB61 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTheBrain Technologies LPRoam Research Inc.

Customer experience

TheBrain

All ratings167 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral0.6%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews176 reviews
Positive44.3%
Neutral13.6%
Negative42.0%

Roam Mobile

All ratings169 ratings
Positive29.6%
Neutral10.7%
Negative59.8%
Written reviews120 reviews
Positive25.8%
Neutral14.2%
Negative60.0%

User reviews

TheBrain

From 168 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless navigation
  • 🔒 Secure cloud sync
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Powerful features
  • 👍 Excellent for knowledge management

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Buggy on iOS 9
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🐛 Limited functionality on mobile
  • 🐛 Confusing UI and navigation

Roam Mobile

From 170 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast mobile experience
  • 🔒 Encrypted graphs with Face ID
  • 👍 Native-like navigation
  • 💡 Useful quick capture feature
  • 🚀 Impressive pace of improvements

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Slow load times and app crashes
  • 🐛 Lack of offline mode and sync issues
  • 👎 Limited functionality compared to desktop
  • 👎 Unintuitive and buggy UI/UX
  • 🐛 Incompatibility with external keyboards

Bugs and requests

TheBrain

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on iOS 9
  • Inability to open brains
  • Freezing after each action
  • Login and account issues
  • Sync problems

Requested features

7 requests
  • Offline mode
  • Improved mobile UI and UX
  • Better integration with other apps
  • More affordable pricing options
  • Enhanced search and filtering
Show 2 more
  • Split-screen support on iPad
  • Handwriting and stylus support

Roam Mobile

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes and loading issues
  • Inability to edit or access notes
  • Sync problems and lost data
  • Incompatibility with certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Offline mode and better syncing
  • Improved keyboard support
  • Dark mode and customization options
  • Better integration with iOS features
  • Ability to handle large graphs

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TheBrain

Subscriptions2
  • TheBrain Pro Monthly$17.991 Month
  • TheBrain Pro Annual$189.991 Year
None

Roam Mobile

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is TheBrain free?
TheBrain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Roam Mobile free?
Roam Mobile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, TheBrain or Roam Mobile?
TheBrain is rated higher. TheBrain averages 4.8 out of 5 from 168 ratings, while Roam Mobile averages 2.6 from 170 ratings.
Do TheBrain or Roam Mobile have ads?
Neither TheBrain nor Roam Mobile shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TheBrain or Roam Mobile?
TheBrain ships an update every 3 weeks, and Roam Mobile every 2 weeks. Most recently, TheBrain was updated on October 26, 2026 and Roam Mobile on October 21, 2026.

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