BenchRank
#18 in Notes & Knowledge ManagementUpdated 2026-08

Blinko

by Blinko · Open-source AI card notes with RAG search, self-hosted

48.4 — BenchRank score out of 100

Screenshots of Blinko

  • Homepage
  • Pricing page

Homepage · Blinko

Homepage of Blinko
Visit this page

1 of 2

Overview

Blinko is an open-source card-based note-taking app for capturing and organising notes in plain text and Markdown. It uses RAG to answer natural language searches over your notes, and is designed to run in a self-hosted environment so notes stay under your control. Paid memberships add a browser extension, a Telegram bot and monthly AI credits.

Best for
People who want a self-hosted, open-source note app with AI search over their own notes
Pricing
Core features are open source and free; Membership is $5/month and Pro Membership $9.9/month, with an annual option advertised as saving 16%
Runs on
Self-hosted

Strengths and trade-offs

Strengths

  • Open-source core, free for all main note features
  • Notes stay in your own self-hosted environment
  • RAG-based natural language search across notes
  • Plain text and Markdown capture

Trade-offs

  • Browser extension and Telegram bot need a paid membership
  • AI use is metered: 500 credits/month, 3000 on Pro
  • Stated data control depends on you running the self-hosted deployment
  • Free trial is 7 days with limited AI credits

Pricing

Published plans from Blinko’s own pricing page, in USD. Usage charges and add-ons may apply on top.

Blinko pricing tiers, monthly rates in USD
PlanMonthlyIncludes
Membership$5per month
  • Browser extension
  • Telegram bot
  • 500 AI credits/month
  • Priority support
Pro Membership$9.9per month
  • All Membership features
  • 3000 AI credits/month
  • Early access to new bots
  • Premium support

How this score is made up

Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.

MCP support
0 out of 100
API quality
10 out of 100
Documentation
80 out of 100
Agent friendliness
83 out of 100
Pricing transparency
85 out of 100
Changelog
80 out of 100
Marketing site structure
75 out of 100
Operational trust
0 out of 100

Measured, but not part of the score

Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.

Openness
65 out of 100
Maintenance
90 out of 100

This doesn’t look right — report a problem with Blinko’s score

Alternatives in Notes & Knowledge Management

  • Ranked 1

    72.9 — BenchRank score out of 100

    SurfSense

    SurfSense · Open-source NotebookLM alternative for live open-web research

    Best for: Teams and developers who need live platform data from Reddit, YouTube and search for agent research.

  • Ranked 2

    70.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Prismical

    Prismical · Open-source AI note taker that records meetings without a bot

    Best for: People wanting meeting and voice-note transcription on-device, with no bot joining the call

  • Ranked 3

    68.8 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Memos

    Memos · Self-hosted Markdown timeline for quick notes and snippets

    Best for: Self-hosters and developers who want fast Markdown note capture on infrastructure they control.

See all 64 alternatives to Blinko

Report a problem with this page

Report an issue with Blinko