Recall

Overview

Recall is a personal AI knowledge base for people who want their saved articles, media, documents and notes to remain useful after capture. It is especially well suited to researchers, students and lifelong learners; its free plan supports a sizable archive, but limits AI summaries to 10 a month.

Chat across a personal library and the open web, automatic links between related items, and review tools give Recall more to offer than a conventional digital filing cabinet. It is less compelling if you need only basic note storage or expect an external AI assistant to change your library: MCP access is read-only.

Key features

Recall handles articles, videos, podcasts, PDFs and notes. Its AI chat can draw on saved knowledge, the open web, or both, using models including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. That makes it useful for questions that need both personal context and broader web material, rather than a search limited to either one.

A knowledge graph automatically links related items and can bring those connections back into view while browsing. Quizzes and spaced repetition help turn a collection into something users actively revisit, a practical advantage for study and continuing research. People who simply want to keep files in one place may not get much from these additional layers.

AI summaries, AI note search, audio transcription and a web clipper support capture and retrieval. Plus adds Listen Mode and bulk import for up to 1,000 bookmarks or 10,000 Markdown notes. Max adds bulk AI actions on up to 100 pieces of content at once and a choice of AI model.

The MCP server connects Recall to Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini CLI, but it can currently only read the knowledge base. It is useful for consulting saved material from those tools, not for using them to write changes back into Recall.

Recall says it does not use user data for advertising, profiling or AI-model training. It describes augmented browsing as local-first: processing happens on the device, and browsing data is not sent to Recall's servers. Users can access, export or delete their data, including saved content and summaries.

Pricing

Recall uses a freemium model. Free costs nothing and includes unlimited saved content, unlimited notes, API and MCP access, but only 10 AI summaries per month. It suits people evaluating the workflow or maintaining a library without frequent summarising; that cap is restrictive for regular research.

Plus costs $10 a month, billed billed yearly. It removes the AI-summary limit and adds smart tags, AI chat, Listen Mode, the knowledge graph, spaced repetition, and bulk import. This is the practical fit for people who use Recall as an active research or learning tool. Compared with Plus, Free gives up those named capabilities and ongoing unlimited summaries.

Max costs $38 a month, billed billed yearly. It includes everything in Plus, 1:1 onboarding, a choice of AI model and bulk AI actions for up to 100 pieces of content at once. The premium is most relevant to users who need that model choice, onboarding or batch processing; without those needs, Plus covers the core paid features at a lower price.

Recall says paid subscriptions can be canceled at any time, with access continuing until the current billing period ends. Support is offered by email at [email protected], and the site advertises 24-hour support.

Platforms

Recall supports web, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari, as well as API access. Offline access is supported. The range covers mobile and major browser workflows, while the listed platform set does not include desktop apps for Windows, macOS or Linux.

Who it's for

Researchers, founders and operators, students, writers and creators, and lifelong learners are among Recall's intended users. Its strongest case is for anyone who regularly saves varied material and wants to connect it, ask questions across it, and return to it through structured review. It is a weaker fit for simple note-taking, or for a workflow that depends on writing to a knowledge base through MCP.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Multiple source types in one library: Articles, videos, podcasts, PDFs and notes can all feed the same knowledge base.
• Connections and review tools: Automatic links, quizzes and spaced repetition help users rediscover and retain material rather than just store it.
• Useful privacy and portability commitments: Recall says it avoids advertising, profiling and AI training with user data, supports export and deletion, and keeps augmented-browsing processing on-device.
• Free library without a storage cap: Saved content and notes are unlimited, even though summaries are capped.

Cons

• Free summaries are capped: Ten per month may not stretch far for people who routinely process new material.
• MCP is read-only: Connected AI tools can consult the library but cannot currently write to it.
• Max costs substantially more than Plus: Its added value centers on onboarding, model choice and batch actions, which are not essential to every user.

Alternatives

For another freemium knowledge-base option, Korra offers a free plan with up to 100MB and a broader listed platform range, including desktop and self-hosted options; consider it if those deployment choices matter more than Recall's learning and review tools. Nuclino has a free tier capped at 50 items, three canvases and 2GB of storage, so it may suit someone whose needs fit those limits and who wants a different knowledge-base option.

ProProfs Knowledge Base offers a free plan for one author and up to 25 pages, making it a more constrained alternative for a small knowledge-base project. Scribe has a free Basic plan for creating and sharing documentation from web apps; choose it if that documentation workflow is the priority rather than a personal library with chat and review.

DocsBot AI offers a free plan with one bot, 50 source pages, 100 monthly AI credits and one team user, which may fit a small source-based bot use case. GitBook has a free plan for individuals, including one free user, unlimited page views and 10 GitBook Agent messages per week; it is an alternative when publishing a site is the focus.

Sana AI offers a free tier with 10 meetings and 20 chat messages per user monthly, up to five workspace members, and unlimited agents and tasks, making it a different option for teams whose work fits those allowances. Slab is another freemium alternative.

Browse AI Knowledge Base Software, AI Note-Taking Apps or Note-taking apps for more options.

Verdict

Recall is a strong choice for active learners and researchers who want one library for varied media, connected knowledge and structured review. The main reason to choose it is that it helps make saved material searchable, discussable and worth revisiting; the main reasons to look elsewhere are the Free plan's 10-summary limit and MCP's read-only access. Plus is the clearest fit for regular use, while Max makes sense only when its onboarding, model choice or bulk actions justify the higher annual-billing rate.