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Foam VS TurnShift

Compare Foam VS TurnShift and see what are their differences

Foam

Personal knowledge management and sharing on VSCode & GitHub

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source
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Alternatives Is it good?
TurnShift

Team calendar, shift schedules and rotations in Slack and Microsoft Teams

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Paid Free trial €3.5 / Monthly (per active user, billed yearly)
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Alternatives Is it good?
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Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Foam seems to be a lot more popular than TurnShift. While we know about 49 links to Foam, we've tracked only 2 mentions of TurnShift.

social mentions
49 vs 2
Note Taking popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 22

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Foam
TurnShift
Website foambubble.github.io turnshift.app
Pricing
Open source
Paid Free trial €3.5 / Monthly (per active user, billed yearly) Official pricing
Platforms —
Web Slack Microsoft Teams
Company Startup from the United States Startup from France · 1 - 9 employees · 2021
Listed in
Note Taking Knowledge Base Knowledge Management Task Management +1
Customer Support Productivity SaaS Team Scheduling Shift Scheduling Team Calendar On-call Management +4

About Foam and TurnShift

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Foam
TurnShift

No description of Foam yet.

TurnShift is a team calendar and shift scheduling app for Slack and Microsoft Teams (Teams is in beta). Set up who covers support, on-call or the front desk, and TurnShift tells people before their shift, in Slack, Teams or by email. It posts who is on in the channel and shows every schedule on...

Read more about TurnShift

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Foam 6 features
TurnShift 8 features
  • Open Source
    Foam is an open-source tool, which means it is free to use and allows for community-driven development and contributions. Users can modify the source code to fit their specific needs.
  • Markdown Support
    Foam uses Markdown, a lightweight and easy-to-read syntax, making it simple to create and manage notes. This also allows for easy integration with other Markdown-based tools and platforms.
  • Integration with Visual Studio Code
    Foam is designed to work seamlessly with Visual Studio Code (VS Code). This provides users with a powerful and familiar text editor environment, complete with extensions and customization options.
  • Graph View
    Foam includes a graph visualization feature that helps users see and navigate the relationships between their notes, making it easier to understand and manage complex information.
  • Bidirectional Links
    Foam supports bidirectional links, allowing users to create connections between notes in both directions. This enhances the note-taking experience by enabling a more interconnected and dynamic information structure.
  • Community and Documentation
    Foam has a growing community of users and contributors, as well as comprehensive documentation. This support network helps users troubleshoot issues, share tips, and improve their knowledge of the tool.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited to VS Code
    Foam relies on Visual Studio Code as its primary environment. Users who prefer different text editors or platforms might find this limitation restrictive and less convenient.
  • Learning Curve
    Although Foam leverages Markdown, users may still face a learning curve, especially if they are not familiar with VS Code or the specific features and extensions required to maximize Foam's capabilities.
  • Performance with Large Datasets
    Foam can struggle with performance issues when handling large datasets or a high number of notes. This can lead to slow response times and inefficient workflows.
  • Limited Mobile Support
    Foam is primarily designed for desktop use within VS Code, which means that mobile support is limited. Users looking for a seamless cross-platform experience might find this aspect lacking.
  • Customization Complexity
    While Foam offers a high degree of customization, setting up and configuring the tool to meet personal preferences and workflows can be complex and time-consuming for some users.
  • Slack reminders
    TurnShift messages each person before their shift and keeps the channel topic on whoever is on.
  • Automatic rotations
    People take turns of 1 to 8 days or weeks, in the order you set.
  • Team calendar
    Every schedule on one calendar. Select days to assign, swap or unassign people.
  • Reports
    Shifts and hours per person, with a CSV export.
  • API and MCP server
    Ask Claude or ChatGPT who is on call, or book shifts from your own tools.
  • Languages
    English, French, German and Spanish.
  • Microsoft Teams (beta)
    TurnShift posts in a Teams channel when a shift starts and ends, and tells each person in a chat.
  • Share and export
    Share a schedule with a link, public or behind a password. Print it or save it as a picture.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Foam
TurnShift

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Foam is a good tool for those seeking an open-source environment for note-taking and knowledge management, particularly if they appreciate an approach based on markdown files and integration within a powerful text editor like Visual Studio Code. Its flexibility and user-driven customization make it suitable for users who enjoy tweaking and optimizing their workspace according to their workflow.

Why this product is good

  • Foam is a personal knowledge management and sharing system inspired by Roam Research, offering an open-source solution built on top of Visual Studio Code. It provides users with capabilities to create and interlink notes using markdown files, offering flexibility and customization suited to personal preferences. Foam supports features like backlinking, graph visualization of notes, and integration with VS Code extensions, making it a robust tool for managing interconnected information effectively.

Recommended for

  • Individuals preferring markdown-based note-taking systems
  • Developers familiar with Visual Studio Code
  • Users who appreciate open-source software and community-driven projects
  • People interested in managing complex, interconnected knowledge bases

No analysis of TurnShift yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Foam 3 videos + Add
TurnShift 3 videos + Add

These panels DESTROYED my STUDIO....REVERB? - ArrowZoom Foam Review

More videos

  • - Arrowzoom Foam Review
  • - Ryobi Foam Blaster VS. Amazon Foam Cannon | Review

Stop running shifts in a spreadsheet: TurnShift for Slack

More videos

  • - TurnShift for Microsoft Teams: who's on shift, posted in your channel
  • - TurnShift: team calendar and shift scheduling in Slack

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Foam
TurnShift
100% 100%
Note Taking
0% 0%
0% 0%
Productivity
100% 100%
100% 100%
Knowledge Base
0% 0%
0% 0%
Project Management
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Foam and TurnShift.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

TurnShift's answer:

  • Algolia
  • Mobile Club

What makes your product unique?

TurnShift's answer:

You see and change everything on one calendar. Select days, pick someone, done. Most shift tools send you through forms and settings pages for that. TurnShift then tells people in the Slack or Microsoft Teams channels they already read, and you can run it all from Claude or ChatGPT through its MCP server.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

TurnShift's answer:

A schedule takes a few minutes to set up, and assigning a month takes seconds. You only pay for people on an active schedule: with 300 people in Slack and 5 on a schedule, you pay for 5. It is one plan with every feature, 3.50 EUR per person per month billed yearly, and a 14 day trial with no card.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

TurnShift's answer:

Team leads and admins at small and medium companies who share a duty: support, on-call, the front desk, office chores. They are on Slack or Microsoft Teams and want to stop asking "who is on today?" in a channel.

What's the story behind your product?

TurnShift's answer:

Vincent Voyer built TurnShift in France in 2020, as a simple shift calendar connected to Slack: a team calendar for recurring tasks like PR reviews, who's on support or who's qualifying leads. Algolia, its oldest customer, shares its customer support duty with 50+ engineers on it. In 2026 it got automatic rotations, four languages, free tools and Microsoft Teams.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

TurnShift's answer:

Next.js, React and Tailwind, PostgreSQL on PlanetScale, hosted on Vercel, with Stripe for billing and the Slack and Microsoft Teams APIs.

User comments

Share your experience with using Foam and TurnShift. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Foam 49 mentions
TurnShift 2 mentions
  • AI Coding Tip 020 - Create a Second Brain
    Choose a local Markdown tool like Obsidian, Logseq, Foam, or Tolaria to store all your knowledge as plain .md files you own and control. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Migrating from DokuWiki to Obsidian
    I've been using foam instead of obsidian for my personal knowledge base. It works rather well. And it's completely free and ultimately just markdown. While I might wish it was djot, I don't wish hard enough to make that so myself... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • I Use Obsidian
    I gave up on Obsidian and just use Foam (https://foambubble.github.io/foam/) and/or vimwiki. I just can’t get into overwrought, arbitrarily designed organization schemes or proprietary apps (Foam-managed content is just plain Markdown,... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago

View more

  • Grafana OnCall, the easiest way to do on-call management
    Shameless plug, if you're looking for a simple shift scheduling calendar connected to Slack, I built this: https://turnshift.app. It's a team calendar to share recurring tasks as a team. Things like PR reviews, who's on support, who's... - Source: Hacker News / about 5 years ago
  • Stripe Tax
    I was lucky to be part of the beta for my SaaS (https://turnshift.app) and I must say this new feature simplifies things A LOT. Especially as a EU business owner, I previously had to sync every VAT tax rate possible, use a complex... - Source: Hacker News / over 5 years ago

Alternatives to Foam and TurnShift

When comparing Foam and TurnShift, you can also consider the following products.

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