Free vs Paid Features

Atlas is built so that the core experience — managing your vault, searching your notes, and organizing your life — works completely free, forever, with no account required. The subscription unlocks AI and voice features powered by the cloud.

No Account Required

You can download Atlas, point it at a vault folder, and start using it immediately — no sign-up, no account, no subscription. The free tier is not a trial; it doesn’t expire.

Free Features (Local, Always Available)

Everything in this list works offline, with no account, and with no usage limits:

Vault management: Create, move, rename, and delete notes and folders
Note creation and editing: Full markdown support with wiki-links, tags, tasks, and frontmatter
Local search: Hybrid semantic + keyword search across your entire vault (runs on-device with an ONNX embedding model)
CRM: People, organizations, topics, relationship graphs, and network visualization
Plugins: Install and run community plugins; build your own
Templates: Create and apply note templates
Daily notes: Auto-generated daily notes with task tracking
Tasks: Add, view, and complete tasks from your notes
Scheduling and reminders: Set reminders and scheduled automation tasks
File watcher: Atlas detects new files added to your vault and indexes them automatically
Calendar integration: Connect Google Calendar and view or create events (OAuth, runs locally)
Memory and sessions: Conversation history, long-term facts, and the user profile system — all stored locally

Paid Features (Cloud-Powered)

These features require an active subscription and an internet connection. They send requests to Atlas’s servers, which forward them to OpenAI:

AI chat: The LLM that powers the agent’s responses. Without a subscription, you can use all the local tools and search, but the agent can’t generate AI responses.
Speech-to-text (STT): Voice input via OpenAI Whisper. Speak your messages instead of typing.
Text-to-speech (TTS): Atlas speaks its responses aloud using OpenAI’s voice models.
Wake word detection: Say “Hey Atlas” hands-free to start a voice conversation.
Drumbeat (ambient awareness): Periodic background check-ins where Atlas proactively surfaces overdue tasks, calendar reminders, and other relevant information.

Tier Comparison

Feature	Free	Trial (7 days)	Talk ($15/mo)	Walk & Talk ($20/mo)
All local features	All	All	All	All
AI messages	—	100/day	500/day	500/day
Voice input (STT)	—	30 min/mo	60 min/mo	60 min/mo
Voice output (TTS)	—	50K chars/mo	100K chars/mo	100K chars/mo
Wake word	—	Yes	Yes	Yes
Drumbeat	—	Yes	Yes	Yes

Starting a Free Trial

The 7-day free trial gives you full access to all paid features with no credit card required upfront.

To get started:

Create an account at atlasnotes.io
Open Atlas and go to Settings > Account
Click Sign In and enter your credentials
Your 7-day trial starts automatically — you’ll see your tier and usage in Settings

Upgrading to a Paid Plan

When your trial ends (or if you want to subscribe directly without a trial):

In Atlas, go to Settings > Account > Upgrade
You’ll be taken to a secure Stripe checkout page
After payment, your subscription activates immediately

You can manage your subscription, update payment details, or cancel at any time from Settings > Account > Manage Subscription.

For full pricing details, plan comparisons, and billing FAQs, visit Plans & Billing.

What Happens When a Paid Feature Isn’t Available?

If you try to use a paid feature without an active subscription, Atlas shows a clear message explaining what’s needed. Your vault and all local features always remain fully functional — nothing is locked or degraded on the free tier.