Altretta vs Anytype
Two local-first, encrypted tools that disagree about one thing: whether your knowledge should be objects in an app, or files you already own.
Which one should you choose?
Anytype is the closest product on this site to Altretta on privacy, and it is genuinely strong: encrypted before anything leaves your device, stored locally first, self-hostable if you want to run the network yourself, and shipping on five platforms. So this comparison is not about encryption — claiming otherwise would be wrong. It is about two other things: whether your notes are ordinary Markdown files on your disk, and whether the history of what changed is something you can verify rather than something you trust.
Where the two agree, and where they differ.
| Capability | Altretta | Anytype |
|---|---|---|
| Stored on your device first | YesMarkdown files in a folder you chose. Open them in any editor. | YesStored on your device firstanytype.io/faq |
| Encryption | YesInto storage you already own — your Dropbox, your OneDrive, a network share, a USB stick. No server of ours in the path and no key escrow. | YesZero-knowledge encryptionanytype.io/faq |
| Platforms | macOS · Windows · Linux | Mac · Windows · Linux · Android · iOSanytype.io/faq |
| Self-hosting | PartialNothing of ours sits in the sync path, and a published site can be written to a folder you host. There is no server of ours to run. | YesSelf-hostableanytype.io/faq |
| Licence | PartialThe engine is open source; the desktop app is not. | PartialOpen-source protocol, source-available appanytype.io/faq |
| Getting your content out | YesYour notes are already Markdown files on your disk. Export adds Word, LaTeX, PDF and HTML on top. | YesMarkdown · PDF · HTMLdoc.anytype.io/anytype-docs/data/import-export.md |
| Free tier | YesThe full desktop app, free forever, with one synced folder. | Yes100 MB of synced storageanytype.io/pricing |
| Paid tiers | Pro at €4.99/mo, with as many synced folders as you like. | $4/mobilled yearlyanytype.io/pricing1 GB of synced storageanytype.io/pricing$8/mobilled yearlyanytype.io/pricing10 GB of synced storageanytype.io/pricing |
| Largest tier | There is no larger tier. Sync writes into storage you already pay for, so there is nothing for us to meter. | $16/mobilled yearlyanytype.io/pricing100 GB of synced storageanytype.io/pricing20%anytype.io/pricing |
| Answers that cite the note they came from | YesCited passages with the file and the line numbers, from the model you connect over MCP. | Not verified |
| Signed history and time travel | YesEd25519-signed and append-only. Removal is a signed tombstone, never a delete, so you can travel back to any point. | Not verified |
| Reads your code repository | YesSymbol extraction in twenty languages, in the same signed graph as the notes. | Not verified |
Verified Every figure here about another product was read from the pages linked below, on that date, and from nowhere else. Follow them and check us — that is the whole idea.
“Not verified” means it has not been checked on Anytype’s own pages, so nothing is being claimed either way. Prices are read from the yearly view their pricing page opens on.
What Altretta and Anytype share.
The two products agree about more than they disagree about, and the page is better for saying so.
Local first, not cloud first
Both keep your knowledge on the device and treat sync as something you add, rather than as the place your notes actually live.
Encrypted before it leaves
Neither product wants to be able to read your notes. Both encrypt on the device rather than at a server you have to trust.
No advertising business underneath
Both are paid products with a free tier, so the thing being sold is the software rather than what is inside your notes.
A way out
Anytype exports Markdown, and in Altretta Markdown is what your notes already are. Neither is a one-way door.
Where Altretta goes further.
Not on privacy. On what you can prove, and on what your notes are when the app is closed.
Your notes are files, not records
Close Altretta and what remains is a folder of Markdown you can read, grep, back up and edit with anything. That is a design choice with real costs — and it is the one this product will not trade.
Answers with their receipts
Every answer cites the passage it came from, with a file and line numbers. You connect your own model over MCP, so there is no built-in LLM and no second subscription.
Your AI gets the passage, not the pile
Measured on the demo vault of 43 notes over 24 pre-registered questions: 26.5% fewer input tokens than an assistant that already knows which files hold the answer, and 94.3% fewer than pasting your whole vault into the prompt.
A history you can verify, not just view
Every change is an Ed25519-signed entry in an append-only log. Removal is a signed tombstone, so time travel is exact and nothing quietly disappears.
It reads your repository too
Twenty languages have symbol extractors, so code and prose end up in one signed graph and a question about either can cite the other.
Publishing that carries its proof
Selected notes become a site where each page ships its own verifier, so a reader can check the signature without trusting whoever is serving the page.
When Anytype is the better fit today.
Four places where Anytype is straightforwardly ahead.
You need it on your phone
Anytype ships on Android and iOS. Altretta has no mobile build of any kind, and that is the difference that ends the comparison for a lot of people.
You want to run the network yourself
Anytype can be self-hosted. Altretta has no server in the sync path at all, which is a different answer to the same worry — but it is not the same capability, and if you want to operate the thing, Anytype offers that and Altretta does not.
You want structure over documents
Anytype is built around typed objects and relations. If you are modelling a domain rather than writing about one, that is a better fit than a folder of Markdown with properties on top.
You want encryption that covers the whole store
In Altretta the vault on your machine is deliberately plaintext, so any editor can open it; only what leaves for a sync target is encrypted. Anytype encrypts on device throughout, which is the stronger position if the threat you have in mind is your own laptop.
What happens to your notes if you move.
There is no Anytype-specific importer. The route exists anyway, and here is exactly what it is.
Export Markdown, import the folder
Anytype’s documentation lists Markdown among its export formats, and Altretta imports a Markdown folder. That is the path, and it is the only one.
Relations become properties, roughly
Typed objects and relations do not survive an export to Markdown as objects. What arrives is frontmatter and links, which Altretta reads — but a structured space will need work, not a click.
Some things do not export at all
Anytype documents that a few kinds of content are tied to the space and cannot be exported. Check what matters to you against their documentation before you plan a move.
Before you switch.
Is Altretta an Anytype alternative?
For notes, yes. For a typed object database with relations, not really — that is what Anytype is for, and Altretta is document-first with properties and database views over ordinary files. Pick on that, not on privacy: both take privacy seriously.
Will my Anytype spaces work in Altretta?
Your content can come across as Markdown, which Altretta imports as a folder. Structure will not survive intact: relations arrive as frontmatter and links, and Anytype documents that some content cannot be exported at all. Plan it as a migration rather than an import.
Does Altretta lock me in?
No. Your notes are Markdown files on your disk the entire time, so leaving is closing the app. The signed history never destructively deletes anything, and export adds Word, LaTeX, PDF and HTML.
Is my data private? Does it stay local?
Your notes live on your disk and the app works offline, and the local vault is deliberately plaintext so any editor can open it. Three things you switch on deliberately send content elsewhere: the AI client you connect receives the cited passages, hosted publishing uploads the pages you selected, and encrypted sync writes ciphertext into storage you picked.
Keep your files. Gain proof.
Download Altretta free for macOS, Windows and Linux. Your notes stay files you can open with anything — and every answer arrives with its source.