Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

start.me VS BrainTool

Compare start.me VS BrainTool and see what are their differences

start.me logo start.me

A Modern-day bookmark manager. A place for your favorites. A news feed (RSS) reader. A browser startpage. A portal for your team.

BrainTool logo BrainTool

BrainTool is a personal information manager for your online life.
  • start.me Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-30

A Modern-day bookmark manager. A place for your favorites. A news feed (RSS) reader. A browser startpage. A portal for your team.

  • BrainTool Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-06

start.me

Website
start.me
$ Details
freemium $20.0 / Annually
Platforms
Browser Windows iOS Android Web Mac OSX
Release Date
2014 January

start.me features and specs

  • Customization
    start.me offers extensive customization options, allowing users to create a personalized dashboard with widgets, RSS feeds, bookmarks, and more.
  • Ease of Use
    The platform is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy for users to set up and navigate their dashboards.
  • Integrations
    start.me integrates with a variety of third-party applications and services, enhancing its functionality and making it a versatile tool.
  • Collaboration
    Users can share their dashboards with others, making it a great tool for team collaboration and information sharing.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Being web-based, start.me works across different devices and operating systems, allowing for consistent access.

Possible disadvantages of start.me

  • Subscription Cost
    The premium features of start.me require a subscription, which could be a drawback for budget-conscious users.
  • Limited Offline Access
    Since it is a web-based tool, start.me provides limited functionality when offline.
  • Learning Curve
    While it is generally user-friendly, the vast array of customization options can be overwhelming for new users.
  • Performance Issues
    Depending on the number of widgets and feeds added, the dashboard can sometimes experience slow load times.
  • Privacy Concerns
    As with any cloud-based service, there can be privacy concerns regarding how user data is handled and stored.

BrainTool features and specs

  • Organizational Efficiency
    BrainTool allows users to organize their browser tabs and links efficiently, reducing clutter and improving workflow management.
  • Integration with Tools
    The tool integrates well with various productivity applications, enabling seamless transitions between tasks and improving overall productivity.
  • User-friendly Interface
    BrainTool features an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, making it accessible for users of all technical skill levels.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, BrainTool allows developers to contribute to its development, ensuring continuous improvement and customization options for users.
  • Privacy-focused
    BrainTool prioritizes user privacy by storing data locally, preventing unauthorized access to users' bookmarks and browsing habits.

Possible disadvantages of BrainTool

  • Learning Curve
    New users may experience a learning curve in fully understanding and utilizing all the features and capabilities of BrainTool.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    Compared to more comprehensive project management tools, BrainTool might lack some of the advanced features that power users might expect.
  • Browser Dependency
    The effectiveness of BrainTool is largely tied to its integration within specific browsers, limiting its use for users who utilize multiple browsers.
  • Performance Issues
    Users with a large number of tabs or bookmarks might experience performance lags, impacting their browsing speed and experience.

Analysis of start.me

Overall verdict

  • Overall, start.me is considered a good tool for users who prefer a personalized, organized start page experience. It provides many features to streamline online navigation and consolidate various web resources into one convenient location.

Why this product is good

  • Start.me is a customizable personal start page that enables users to manage their online bookmarks, news feeds, and personal widgets in a consolidated dashboard. It offers a visually appealing and efficient way to organize multiple web resources, making it easier to access and manage daily digital tools and information.

Recommended for

  • Individuals who want to simplify their online browsing experience
  • Users who need an organized platform to manage bookmarks and RSS feeds
  • Professionals who aim to boost productivity through a centralized digital workspace
  • People who appreciate a visually customizable dashboard for their daily online activities

start.me videos

Introduction to start.me

More videos:

  • Tutorial - start.me Tutorial video - March 2017
  • Review - Tour of start.me

BrainTool videos

Beyond Bookmarks - The BrainTool Topic Manager

More videos:

  • Review - Maximum precision when cutting: BRAINTOOL XT8 EXACT
  • Review - Browser-based Productivity and PKM with emacs, org-mode, LogSeq and BrainTool

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to start.me and BrainTool)
Bookmark Manager
88 88%
12% 12
Bookmarks
76 76%
24% 24
Productivity
56 56%
44% 44
Favorites
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare start.me and BrainTool

start.me Reviews

Best Bookmark Managers for Teams, Designers & Power Users
Start.me turns your new tab into a dashboard where bookmarks live alongside widgets, RSS feeds, notes, and more. Itโ€™s ideal for users who want a personalized homepage that centralizes productivity and organization. Whether for work, school, or general browsing, Start.me helps you begin each session with clarity and purpose.
Top 10 browser-independent bookmark managers for efficient web surfing
All BlogsPublished in Top 10 browser-independent bookmark managers for efficient web surfingShare this postLinkedIn iconFacebook iconTwitter iconThe only bookmarking tool you'll ever needTry for freeTable of contents1. Can bookmarks be shared between different browsers?2. What does the browser-independent bookmark manager do?3. Is it safe to use a bookmarks manager?4. What...
Source: www.save.day
Top 10 Bookmark Managers for Chrome 2024
Start.me is a bookmarking and also a start page platform to enhance your web browsing. You can literally keep start.me as your default home page if you like being organized. It takes all your online data and puts it into one handy dashboard.
15 Best Xmarks Alternatives For Bookmarks Synchronization
Start.me is an all-in-one service application. It provides users with a widget start page where they can configure various widgets of news, notes, RSS feeds, links, and many more, including email, calendar, weather, to-do list, etc.
Source: techreen.com
3+ Best XMarks Alternatives For Bookmarks Synchronization Across Multiple Browsers
The drawback of Start.me is that it does not synchronize the browser bookmarks. You will need to add bookmarks inside the Start.me extension to synchronize with the Start.me account.

BrainTool Reviews

We have no reviews of BrainTool yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, BrainTool should be more popular than start.me. It has been mentiond 92 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

start.me mentions (14)

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BrainTool mentions (92)

  • Use Txt for Bookmarks
    Take a look at BrainTool. It's a bookmarks/tabs/todo-manager browser extension that writes to an org-mode syntax text file. Allows you to capture notes, containment hierarchy, to-do state etc and expose it all to your org PKMS. (Disclosure, I'm the developer.) https://braintool.org https://github.com/tconfrey/BrainTool. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Browser bookmarking system is already built-in (2024)
    Give BrainTool a look. Its designed to address tab hoarding by making it easy to file and close out tabs and tab groups and then re-find them with search and hierarchy and notes. Associated keyboard commands make it easy to open/close and navigate tabs as a group (eg open a tabgroup with all tabs for a given topic). Everything can be synced to a plan text file. (Disclaimer, I'm the developer, but also a user!) [0]... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Do you use a bookmark manager?
    Https://braintool.org/ works really well, saves everything in plain text, works especially well for us Emacs/org-mode freaks. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • everyone says chrome is losing Adblock but when will it happen so I know when to swap to firefox?
    1) If I may offer you BrainTool as an alternative. Check out the reviews - many satisfied TO migrants. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Why the pomodoro method isn't working for you
    PS Public service/shameless-promotion: https://braintool.org. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing start.me and BrainTool, you can also consider the following products

Raindrop.io - All your articles, photos, video & content from web & apps in one place.

OneTab - Whenever you find yourself with too many tabs, click the OneTab icon to convert all of your tabs into a list. When you need to access the tabs again, you can either restore them individually or all at once.

Protopage - The best iGoogle alternative. Chris Pirillo calls Protopage "The best designed".

Tabs Outliner - Next Generation Session, Windows, Tabs Manager and a TooManyTabs Solution That Really Works.

Diigo - Diigo is a powerful research tool and a knowledge-sharing community

Org mode - Org: an Emacs Mode for Notes, Planning, and Authoring