Foam VS Underlayer

Compare Foam VS Underlayer and see what are their differences

Rating: 0 reviews
Pricing: Open source
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Rating: 0 reviews
Pricing: Freemium $149 / Monthly
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FlexiQuiz

FlexiQuiz is a powerful online test generator that enables you to create engaging online quizzes, tests, or exams in minutes. Choose from 100's of features to create a customized quiz that meets your objectives for business, education, or fun. sponsored

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 more popular. It has been mentioned 49 times since March 2021.

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

Base details

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

	Foam	Underlayer
Website	foambubble.github.io	underlayerhq.com
Pricing	Open source	Freemium $149 / Monthly Official pricing
Company	Startup from the United States	Startup from the United Arab Emirates · 1 - 9 employees · 2026
Listed in	Note Taking Knowledge Base Knowledge Management Task Management +1	Education E-learning Education / E-Learning

About Foam and Underlayer

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Foam

Underlayer

No description of Foam yet.

Underlayer is headless, API-first training for SaaS products. Instead of sending your users to a separate LMS portal, you generate a course, embed it where they already work, and get every completion sent back to your own systems. How it works Create a course. Generate one from a doc or a prompt...

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Foam 6 features

Underlayer 0 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.

No features have been listed yet.

Analysis

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

Foam

Underlayer

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 Underlayer yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Foam 3 videos + Add

Underlayer 1 video + Add

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

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

Underlayer

100% 100%

0% 0%

100% 100%

0% 0%

100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Foam and Underlayer.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

Underlayer's answer:

it's pre-launching

What makes your product unique?

Underlayer's answer:

Underlayer is training with no portal. You build a course by API, by MCP, or in the visual builder, and add it to your product with one iframe. Then signed webhooks tell your systems who finished. Learners never create an account or leave your app, and the player uses your theme, so it looks like part of your product. We charge per course view, not per seat, and every price and overage rate is published.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Underlayer's answer:

Most course tools, like Coassemble, Trainn and LearningStudioAI, assume training happens on their own site: learners sign up, log in and get enrolled, and you pay per seat. Underlayer takes the opposite approach:

No learner accounts. You pass in your own user IDs and we track progress against them. Built for developers. A full REST API covers every resource, and an MCP server lets AI agents create and edit courses. Results in your own tools. Signed webhooks send completions to your CRM, your product or your data warehouse. SCORM 1.2 and 2004 export for customers who still need to load courses into an LMS. Public pricing. Plans start at $149/month for 25,000 course views, with unlimited learners and no sales call required.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Underlayer's answer:

SaaS product, customer success and engineering teams who want onboarding, product education or compliance training inside their own app. It also suits platforms that train other people's users, like partner networks, marketplaces and field-ops tools, where a separate LMS login gets in the way.

What's the story behind your product?

Underlayer's answer:

Every company putting training in front of its users hit the same wall: the LMS wanted to own the learner. That meant a separate portal, a second login and a per-seat bill for people who never opened a course. We built Underlayer as the layer underneath instead. You keep the product and the user relationship. We handle building the course, playing it and tracking progress, and we stay out of the way.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Underlayer's answer:

Next.js 16 (App Router) with React 19 and TypeScript, Tailwind CSS v4, and Supabase (Postgres with row-level security, Auth and Storage). Claude from Anthropic generates courses with AI. Stripe handles billing and Resend sends email. There is also a remote MCP server with OAuth 2.1 for AI-agent access.

User comments

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

Social recommendations and mentions

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

Foam 49 mentions

Underlayer 0 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

Tracking Underlayer since Sep 2026.

Alternatives to Foam and Underlayer

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

Logseq
Logseq is a local-first, non-linear, outliner notebook for organizing and sharing your personal knowledge base.

Compare Logseq to Foam or Underlayer:

Logseq vs Foam Logseq vs Underlayer
Coassemble
Coassemble is an all-in-one, online training tool that connects people with the information they need – anytime, anyplace.

Compare Coassemble to Foam or Underlayer:

Coassemble vs Foam Coassemble vs Underlayer
Obsidian
A second brain, for you, forever. Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.

Compare Obsidian to Foam or Underlayer:

Obsidian vs Foam Obsidian vs Underlayer
Trainn.co
Trainn is a Customer Education platform for SaaS companies of all sizes to onboard and train customers, at scale, using product training & how-to videos, feature walkthroughs, and a dedicated customer training Academy.

Compare Trainn.co to Foam or Underlayer:

Trainn.co vs Foam Trainn.co vs Underlayer
Zim Wiki
Zim is a graphical text editor used to maintain a collection of wiki pages. Each page can contain links to other pages, simple formatting and images.

Compare Zim Wiki to Foam or Underlayer:

Zim Wiki vs Foam Zim Wiki vs Underlayer
Nuclino
Nuclino works like a collective brain, helping teams bring all their knowledge, docs, and projects together in one place. It's a modern, simple, and blazingly fast way to collaborate.

Compare Nuclino to Foam or Underlayer:

Nuclino vs Foam Nuclino vs Underlayer