Flomo

What Flomo does

Flomo (浮墨笔记) is a privately held, Shanghai-based software company that operates a cross-platform card-based note-taking application launched on April 18, 2020 by co-founders 少楠 (Shaonan) and Lightory. The product is built around the MEMO, a low-friction atomic note captured via WeChat service account, native iOS/Android apps, a Web/PWA client, and Mac/Windows desktop clients, with free unlimited cross-device synchronization. Its design philosophy deliberately rejects the all-in-one model of competitors such as Notion and Roam, focusing exclusively on capture and review and drawing on Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten method and Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes. The technology stack is web-first for cross-platform compatibility, supplemented by native shells, an open REST API (launched November 2020) that has fostered an ecosystem of dozens of third-party extensions, and MCP support introduced in 2025 for AI tool interoperability.

The company monetizes via a freemium subscription: a free tier with 500MB compressed storage and unlimited text, a PRO tier at ¥99/year or ¥12/month unlocking 20GB storage and advanced features (daily review, voice input, AI features, API), and a higher MAX tier offering 500GB storage and full AI Memory Archive capabilities. Go-to-market is product-led and community-driven, with no paid advertising; growth relies on a network of 布道师 (evangelists), user stories distributed across WeChat, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Jike, the flomo 101 knowledge base, the weekly newsletter, and a published book 《笔记的方法》. As of the available data, the company has cumulatively served over one million registered users, achieved 103% YoY core metric growth in 2022, and explicitly maintains zero external funding, operating self-sufficiently on subscription revenue with a small team that grew from 2 co-founders in 2021 to 8 by end of 2022.

Name

Flomo

Legal name

上海仙蒂网络科技有限公司

Website

https://flomoapp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Flomo (浮墨笔记) is a bootstrapped, Shanghai-based note-taking platform founded in 2020 that serves over one million individual knowledge workers with a frictionless, cross-platform MEMO capture app, monetizing via PRO/MAX subscriptions and an AI-enhanced knowledge review feature stack.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Beijing

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel

Revenue model

1. PRO Subscription: Annual and monthly subscription for PRO membership unlocking advanced features including larger storage (20GB), daily review via WeChat, widgets, password lock, API access, voice input, AI-related notes, AI search, AI insight, and more. The company deliberately does not sell multi-year subscriptions and always advises users they can cancel annually, maintaining accountability pressure.
2. MAX Subscription: Higher-tier subscription with 500GB storage, full original image upload, AI Memory Archive (including user.md, memory.md, memory slices), and 50 AI insight uses per day vs. 2 for PRO users.
3. Free tier: Free tier with 500MB storage (compressed images), unlimited text notes, basic search, and limited multi-platform sync. This serves as the top-of-funnel conversion base. The company commits to not using advertising and protecting user privacy.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Flomo is a lightweight, cross-platform card-based note-taking application (flomo = flow + memo) that enables frictionless capture of ideas via WeChat, mobile apps, web, and browser extensions, with multi-device cloud sync, hierarchical tagging, daily review, and AI-powered features (semantic search, related notes, AI insight, AI memory archive). The product is offered via a freemium model with paid PRO (99 CNY/year) and MAX subscriptions unlocking advanced AI features, voice input, and expanded storage (20GB / 500GB).

Product overview

Flomo is a lightweight, cross-platform card-note-taking application (flomo = flow + memo) designed to help users capture thoughts quickly and review them effectively. The core product portfolio consists of: (1) native mobile apps for iOS and Android, (2) a web-based PWA, and (3) native desktop clients for Mac and Windows — all synchronized across devices for free. The ecosystem includes: flomoplus (Chrome/Firefox browser extension) for web annotation and third-party import; the Flomo 101 knowledge base documenting methodology; and a published book 《笔记的方法》. PRO and MAX subscription tiers unlock AI features (Related Notes, 找一找, AI Insight, AI Memory Archive, voice input), advanced review systems, increased storage (20GB PRO / 500GB MAX), and API access. The platform has a rich extension marketplace supporting iOS Shortcuts, Alfred, Raycast, Quicker, Drafts, MarginNote, WeChat, WeChat Reading, Dedao, Kindle, Feishu, and more. Flomo uses a subscription model (no advertising, no VC funding), with a stated seven-year service commitment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Flomo Mobile Apps (iOS & Android) Native mobile applications for iOS and Android that allow users to create, browse, and review memos on smartphones with offline support, home screen widgets, push notifications, and daily review features. Targets individual knowledge workers and lifelong learners.
• Flomo Web / PWA Web-based application accessible via any browser with Progressive Web App installation for desktop-like experience, providing full-featured note management including daily review, search, tags, and settings. Targets individual users seeking cross-platform access without downloads.
• Flomo Desktop Client (Mac & Windows) Native desktop applications for Mac and Windows, completely rewritten in 2023 with a new kernel for desktop-native capabilities. Multi-device sync is free and unlimited.
• flomoplus (Chrome/Firefox Extension)

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1 million registered users since April 2020 launch
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration20 records

AI capability7 records

Feature11 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bear: Apple-only note-taking app focused on Markdown, tags, and elegant design. Targets a similar individual-knowledge-worker audience with frictionless capture as a core differentiator.
• Logseq: Open-source, local-first outliner with bidirectional links, block references, and query language. Targets the same daily-notes-and-knowledge-graph workflow as flomo with a power-user/dev audience.
• 有道云笔记 (NetEase Youdao Notes): NetEase-owned cross-platform note-taking app with a large Chinese user base. Direct local competitor to flomo on everyday note capture and knowledge management.
• Obsidian: Local-first Markdown knowledge base inspired by Zettelkasten with bidirectional links, tags, and a rich plugin ecosystem. Closely comparable to flomo on methodology (Evergreen Notes / card-based thinking) but stores files locally rather than in the cloud.
• Roam Research: Pioneered the modern Zettelkasten/evergreen-notes approach for English-language knowledge workers using block-based bidirectional linking and a daily notes inbox — the philosophical ancestor of flomo's product positioning.
• 语雀 (Yuque): Alibaba-owned knowledge base and documentation platform popular with Chinese developers and product teams. Competes directly for the same knowledge-worker use case with deeper enterprise and team-collaboration features.

Emerging players

• Tana: Supertag-based knowledge tool combining outlining, semantic structure, and AI. Represents the next-generation, AI-native competitor that flomo's AI Memory Archive is conceptually aligned with.

Broad incumbents

• Evernote: Long-established cross-platform note-taking and clipping service. flomo's founder explicitly references Evernote as the dominant tool among knowledge workers in China — the incumbent flomo is positioned to displace.
• Notion: All-in-one workspace covering notes, docs, databases, and wikis. The founders of flomo explicitly position against Notion's all-in-one philosophy, but Notion remains the dominant reference point in the category and a major indirect competitor.
• 印象笔记 (Yinxiang / Chinese Evernote): The localized Chinese joint venture of Evernote. The most direct incumbent in flomo's home market, with established brand recognition among Chinese knowledge workers that flomo is actively eroding.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/flomo_app

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Flomo