Best alternatives to Arky in 2026

Arky is built on the idea that thinking isn't actually linear — it's more like a corkboard with string connecting index cards — so instead of forcing your research or project plan into a single scrolling document, it gives you a spatial canvas where you can drag notes, PDFs, and AI-generated diagrams around and physically arrange how ideas connect. When you're ready to write, a separate 'Docs' view turns that spatial layout into a normal linear document without losing the structure you built. It's aimed at researchers, students, and builders — currently used by people at Stanford, Oxford, Yale, and UC Berkeley — for tasks like literature reviews and project planning, where organizing fragmented information into something coherent is the actual hard part. It's in open beta and free to use during that period, with paid Plus ($12/mo) and Max ($30/mo) tiers already listed for when higher AI usage limits and PDF uploads are needed.