Omphalis vs Heptabase
You have a paper to work through and notes you want to connect. Heptabase gives you cards and whiteboards to arrange that material. Omphalis keeps explanations, questions and notes beside the source as you read.
Both help you work with sources. The choice depends on how you like to read and develop an idea.
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Disclosure: this comparison is written by Omphalis about its own product, so it is not a neutral review. We are not paid by Heptabase or by anyone else to be compared favourably, this page carries no affiliate links, and every claim about Heptabase is checked against their own public documentation. Read the full disclosures, and tell us if something here has gone out of date.
Checked against official documentation on September 5, 2026. Our suggestions about fit are our judgment.
Read and highlight a PDF in its page layout. Selected passages become Highlight cards. You can also ask questions about a chosen range of pages.
Read the extracted text with sections to navigate by. Open an explanation beside a difficult passage, select a phrase with Learn more, or listen to a narrated version of the source.
Arrange cards on whiteboards and link notes to one another. The spatial layout gives you a way to work out how ideas belong together.
Keep a note attached to the passage that prompted it. Bring related sources and your own notes into a notebook, then return to the source when you want to check something.
Add sources to a conversation, or use Space search to find relevant cards and whiteboards. The conversation can read those results to answer your question.
Ask about the source you are reading and follow up while it stays in view. In a notebook, ask about the sources gathered there and use the citations to check the answer.
In this Omphalis example, an explanation opens beside the essay. You can read the extra context, then continue from the same place.
Select the image to see the detail.
This Omphalis notebook holds two essays and a note about finding first users. The answer shown cites the essay on startup ideas, so you can check the passage it used.
Select the image to see the detail.
If moving notes around helps you understand a topic, try its cards and whiteboards. Heptabase also documents offline access to notes and files, and real-time collaboration. Those are worth considering if you work offline or develop ideas with someone else.
Explore Heptabase's features →If the hard part is getting through a source with your questions answered, try a piece in Omphalis. Read the cleaned text, open an explanation, leave your own note and try the narration. Use a notebook when you have related material to bring together.
See the Omphalis reading workflow →Start with one source you know. Work through a difficult passage, leave a note, then come back to it. See which tool makes that process useful for you.