Allume

Use it when

You want nested boards for research synthesis, low-fi sketching, and idea growth—and you’ll upgrade when Free’s workspace, card, or collaborator caps get in the way.

What it does well

• Nested boards plus cards for notes, ink, images, PDFs, and links in one thinking canvas
• Free forever: Mac/iPad/iPhone, small boards, 2 workspaces, 100 cards/workspace, 1 other collaborator, community support
• Unlimited: huge boards, unlimited workspaces/cards/collaborators, priority email support
• Setapp option: huge boards and unlimited workspaces/cards with ~5 collaborators via Setapp
• Local-first feel with intentional limits—less polish overhead, more ideation flow

Skip it when

• You need large boards, many workspaces, or team collaboration beyond one guest—upgrade to Unlimited
• Workshop timers, voting, and enterprise diagram suites matter more—use Miro, FigJam, or Lucid
• You’re on Windows-first workflows—Allume’s story is Apple-native
• You want complex drawing tools or heavy text formatting—Allume deliberately omits them
• High-fidelity UI delivery belongs in Figma, not a thinking canvas