Coffee vs Logseq: an outliner or a Markdown editor for your Mac?

Checked November 2026 against Logseq on GitHub, its announcement of the split and the DB version guide. I make Coffee, so read this with that in mind. Coffee isn't affiliated with Logseq.

If you think in bullets, write most things in a daily journal, and want to link and reuse single blocks across your notes, choose Logseq. It's free and open source, and runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and Android. Choose Coffee if you work on a Mac and write documents rather than outlines: Markdown files in a folder, with headings and paragraphs, edited by AI tools, where you can check what changed.

There's a second choice inside Logseq, and it's worth knowing before you start. In 2026 Logseq split into two apps. Logseq OG keeps your notes as Markdown or Org files, and gets maintenance but no new features. The new Logseq stores each graph in a database, and it's in beta. More on that below.

At a glance

Two Logseqs

In April 2026 the Logseq team announced a split into two products, because building every feature twice, for files and for a database, was slowing them down.

Logseq OG is the file version that most people know. Each page is a Markdown or Org-mode file in a folder. The team says it will continue to be maintained, with security and Electron updates but no new features, and that you can keep using it for as long as you like. It has its own repository, and version 1.0.0 came out on 15 April 2026 for Mac, Windows, Linux and Android.

Logseq, the database version, is where new work goes. Each graph is a SQLite database on your device. Version 2.0.1, the first beta, came out on 13 July 2026, and 2.0.2 on 7 October. The project's own page says the DB version is in beta, that the new mobile app and sync are in alpha, and that data loss is possible, so it recommends backups and a test graph. The iOS app is in TestFlight, and when 2.0.2 came out it was under App Store review.

The two apps can be installed side by side, file graphs in OG and database graphs in the new app, and an importer turns a file graph into a database one.

Where Logseq is better

Free, and open source. Logseq costs nothing, and its code is public under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Coffee is free for 14 days, and after that you pay to keep editing.

More than a Mac. Logseq runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and Android, and in a browser, with an iOS app in beta. Coffee runs on a Mac and nothing else.

Blocks you can reuse. In Logseq, everything is a block, and you can reference or embed a single block on another page. Each block shows how many times it's linked elsewhere, and every page lists its linked references at the bottom. Coffee links whole notes, not blocks. It shows a "Linked from" list at the end of each note, but it has no way to point at one paragraph inside another.

A journal at the centre. Logseq's Journals page is a page for today's date, with earlier days kept on their own pages, and Logseq's own advice is to write most things there first and link them out. Coffee has templates, including a daily note, but nothing built around a daily page.

Sync and working together, in the new version. Logseq Sync keeps database graphs in step between devices and lets several people edit in real time. The team says it's end-to-end encrypted, and you can host it yourself. It's for database graphs, and still in alpha. Coffee has no sync and no shared editing.

Plugins, whiteboards and more. Logseq has plugins, themes, whiteboards, PDF annotation and task management, and the database version builds tags, properties, queries and table views into each graph. Coffee has a fixed set of features and no plugins.

AI tools: both can connect

The database version has an optional MCP server that lets AI apps connect to a graph, turned on under Settings, AI. Coffee has an MCP server too, off until you turn it on.

With OG's file graphs, AI tools can work on the Markdown files directly, as they can with Coffee's. The difference is what Coffee does afterwards: it shows each change a tool made since you last read the note, to keep or undo one at a time. See how that works.

Where Coffee is different

I'm describing what Coffee has here, and not claiming Logseq lacks all of it.

Documents, not outlines. A Coffee note is ordinary Markdown, with headings, paragraphs, tables and lists where you want them. You can work in the finished page, in the code, or side by side. If you write reports, plans or articles that someone else will read, that matters more than it sounds.

Plain files, whichever way you go. Every note is a .md file in your folder, readable by Git, Time Machine and any other editor, with no database behind it. There's more in the piece on plain local files.

A native Mac app. Coffee is built for macOS, with Quick Look, Spotlight and Touch ID. Search across notes answers as you type.

Folders, and replace across them. The sidebar shows your folders as they are on disk, with pinned notes and a sort order for each folder. Replace in All Notes finds text or a regular expression in every note, shows what each match becomes, and undoes the whole replace in one step.

Version history that says what changed. Every note keeps earlier versions, each labelled with what changed against the one before. You can name a version to keep it.

Sums in your notes. Write $30 in EUR or 3h 5m + 45 min and the answer appears beside the line, without going into the file. Try it here.

Finished documents. PDF with three templates, title pages and page numbers, plus Word and EPUB. See the PDF guide.

Propose a change. In a Git repository, Coffee can send one note to a new branch and open a pull request, for people who'd rather not learn Git.

Moving between them

From Logseq OG, your pages are already Markdown files in a folder. Point Coffee at a copy of that folder and they open. Expect them to look like long nested lists, because every block in Logseq is a bullet. Links in [[double brackets]] work in Coffee, while block references, embeds and queries are Logseq's own, so Coffee shows them as text.

From the database version, the guide lists Export as standard Markdown, which it says can't carry every property or timestamp. In May 2026 the team also described a Markdown Mirror, which writes a plain Markdown copy of a graph to a folder and keeps it updated, one way only for now. Either gives Coffee a folder to open.

Going the other way, the database version's importer takes a Markdown graph.

Choose Logseq if

• You think in bullets and want an outliner
• You link and reuse single blocks, and write in a daily journal
• You want it free and open source
• You need Windows, Linux or Android
• You're happy to choose between a maintained file version and a database version in beta

Choose Coffee if

• You work on a Mac running macOS 15 or later, and that's enough
• You write documents with headings and paragraphs, not outlines
• You want each note to be a plain Markdown file, with nothing in a database
• AI tools edit your files, and you want to check each change
• You'd like a finished app over plugins, and the option of paying once

Questions

Is Logseq free?

Yes. Logseq is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Logseq Sync for the database version is paid, offered to Open Collective backers at $5 a month and sponsors at $15 a month, and it can also be self-hosted.

Does Logseq still use Markdown files?

Logseq OG does, with Markdown or Org-mode files in a folder, and it's still maintained. The new database version keeps each graph in a SQLite database on your device, and can export standard Markdown.

Is the Logseq database version finished?

Not yet. Version 2.0.2 came out on 7 October 2026 as a beta, and the project says data loss is possible, with the mobile app and sync in alpha. It recommends backups and a test graph.

Is Coffee an outliner?

No. Coffee is a Markdown editor for documents. It has an outline of your headings in the margin, and you can move a section by dragging its heading, but it doesn't treat each line as a block.

Is Coffee on Windows or Linux?

No. Coffee runs only on a Mac with macOS 15 or later.