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visualOS VS Lorien

Compare visualOS VS Lorien and see what are their differences

visualOS

Infinite canvas and moodboard maker that saves real files

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium $12.99 / One-off (Pay once. Use forever.)
Alternatives Is it good?
Lorien

Infinite canvas drawing/notetaking app for Windows, Linux and Mac. Made with Godot.

Rating
0 reviews
Alternatives Is it good?
EatAWhale
A habit and interest tracker for everything you care about. Set your own cadence, daily to monthly, and streaks follow your schedule. Buy once for $21, no subscription. sponsored

Which is more popular?

Digital Whiteboard popularity
32% vs 68%
alternatives listed
12 vs 46

Base details

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

visualOS
Lorien
Website visualos.app github.com
Pricing
Freemium $12.99 / One-off (Pay once. Use forever.)
—
Platforms
MacOS iOS Browser iPad +1
—
Company Startup from Germany · 1 - 9 employees · 2026 —
Listed in
Note Taking Moodboard Digital Whiteboard Productivity Knowledge Management Knowledge Base +3
Digital Whiteboard Team Collaboration Work Collaboration Productivity +1

About visualOS and Lorien

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

visualOS
Lorien

visualOS is an infinite canvas for people who think visually: notes, Markdown documents, to-dos, images, PDFs, colour swatches and freehand drawing, with boards nested inside boards. It is local-first: every board is a real folder on your disk, documents are Markdown files, and sync runs through...

Read more about visualOS

No description of Lorien yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

visualOS 12 features
Lorien 4 features
  • Infinite canvas
    Zoomable canvas for notes, images, Markdown documents, to-dos, tables, PDFs, videos, links, shapes, arrows and drawings
  • Boards inside boards
    Nest boards to any depth, with breadcrumbs to keep your place
  • Real files on your disk
    Connect a folder: every board becomes a folder, documents become Markdown files, images stay image files
  • Works offline
    No server; the iPhone, iPad and Mac app works fully offline
  • No account
    Open the web app and start working, no sign-up
  • Sync via your own cloud
    Put the folder in iCloud Drive or Dropbox to sync across devices
  • Moodboard tools
    Drag, drop or paste images, crop and caption them, collect colour swatches with names and codes
  • Apple Pencil
    Pen tray, precise eraser, hold-to-shape and handwriting search in the iPad app
  • Version history
    Automatic rolling versions (about 30) for connected folders, restore with one click
  • Search
    Full-text search across all boards (Cmd/Ctrl+F)
  • Export
    Export any view as a 2x PNG; JSON backup and import
  • Languages
    English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Swedish
  • Open Source
    Lorien is open source, allowing developers to modify and contribute to the software based on their needs.
  • Free to Use
    There are no costs associated with using Lorien, making it accessible to individuals and organizations on a budget.
  • Cross-Platform
    Lorien supports multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, increasing its accessibility for different users.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Lorien provides a simple and intuitive user interface, making it easy for users to begin working without a steep learning curve.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Features
    Compared to some commercial design and sketching tools, Lorien may lack certain advanced features and functionalities.
  • Smaller Community
    As an open-source project, Lorien might have a smaller user and developer community, potentially leading to less frequent updates and support.
  • Less Documentation
    Documentation for Lorien might be insufficient, which could pose challenges for new users needing guidance.
  • Performance Issues
    Being an evolving open-source project, users may encounter performance-related issues, especially during complex operations.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

visualOS 1 video + Add
Lorien 0 videos + Add

visualOS - Free Infinite Canvas and Moodboard App

No Lorien videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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
visualOS
Lorien
32% 32%
Digital Whiteboard
68% 68%
32% 32%
Productivity
68% 68%
100% 100%
Note Taking
0% 0%
0% 0%
Team Collaboration
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing visualOS and Lorien.

What makes your product unique?

visualOS's answer

visualOS stores your work as real files. Connect a folder and every board on the canvas becomes a folder on your disk, every document a Markdown file and every image an ordinary image file. There is no server and no account, so your boards work offline, sync through your own iCloud Drive or Dropbox, and stay readable even if you stop using visualOS.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

visualOS's answer

Choose visualOS if you work alone and want your boards to stay yours. Compared with Milanote, there is no 100-note limit and no subscription: the web app is free and complete, and the iPhone, iPad and Mac app is a one-time purchase. Compared with Miro or Apple Freeform, you get boards nested to any depth, stored as plain files, and the app works offline. If your team needs real-time collaboration, comments or share links, Milanote or Miro fit better.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

visualOS's answer

People who think visually and work on their own: designers, photographers, illustrators and artists who build moodboards and project boards, plus students, writers and researchers who organise ideas on a canvas. Users often come from Milanote, Apple Freeform or Kosmik and want an offline tool without a subscription.

What's the story behind your product?

visualOS's answer

We're Sarah Dorweiler and Gerald Reimertz, a husband-and-wife team from Nuremberg, Germany, who have been building things together for more than 20 years. As creatives we always organised our projects on visual canvas tools, but our files and ideas were tied to cloud services. We wanted the same visual overview for the files on our own devices: offline and private. That became visualOS, launched in 2026. We build it as a two-person team.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

visualOS's answer

The app is written in plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with no framework and no build step. The canvas is drawn with the Canvas 2D API and stays fast with thousands of elements. Data lives in IndexedDB or, through the File System Access API, in a folder the user chooses. The native iPhone, iPad and Mac app uses Capacitor plus Swift plugins built on UIKit, PencilKit (shape recognition) and Apple's Vision framework (handwriting search).

User comments

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