Craft alternative
Koru is a free, open-source alternative to Craft for people who want their documents on their own devices, not in a company’s cloud. Craft keeps documents on AWS without end-to-end encryption. Koru keeps your workspace local, works fully offline and syncs directly between your devices. Craft is more polished and runs everywhere today.
Craft stores documents on Amazon Web Services, encrypted in transit and at rest. Its help center says it does not offer end-to-end encryption, because collaboration and real-time sync need server-side access. In the r/CraftDocs community, people have said this keeps them from putting sensitive notes in Craft.
Craft’s External Locations can keep a space in a folder on your device. Craft says sharing and collaboration do not work there, and it does not recommend them across several devices, because syncing depends on a third-party service and can cause conflicts and data loss.
On Mac, iPhone and iPad, Craft keeps every document available offline. On the web, Windows and Android you turn on Offline Mode first, and only documents you have opened while online are saved. Images and attachments need Keep On Device, set per top-level folder on each device.
Craft Assistant uses credits: 15 on the free plan and 50 a month on Plus. You can connect your own OpenAI or Anthropic account or use on-device models on Apple hardware instead, and Craft offers MCP and an API for outside tools.
| Feature | Koru | Craft |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. No account and no trial. | Free up to 1,500 blocks and 1 GB. Plus: $10/month or $96/year. Family: $18/month or $180/year. Team (up to 10 people): $60/month or $600/year. Prices vary by country. |
| Account | None required. | A Craft account, with email, Apple or Google sign-in. |
| Where your documents live | On your own devices. Works fully offline, with no account required. | Craft’s cloud on AWS. Optional External Locations keep a space in a local folder, without sharing or collaboration. |
| Encryption | Device-to-device sync is end-to-end encrypted. | TLS in transit and AWS encryption at rest. No end-to-end encryption. |
| Offline | Everything, always. There is nothing to download first. | All documents on Mac, iPhone and iPad. On the web, Windows and Android, after turning on Offline Mode, only documents you opened online. Images need Keep On Device per folder. |
| Sync | Directly between your devices, peer to peer. No Koru server required. | Through Craft’s cloud. |
| Platforms | Windows today. macOS in beta. iOS and Android apps in development. Linux on the roadmap. | Mac, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Android and the web. |
| Open source | Open source under MPL-2.0, on GitHub. | No. Proprietary. |
| Writing and organizing | Documents with headings, tables, checklists and code, nested pages, #tags, and profiles that keep work and personal workspaces apart. | A block editor with rich styling, nested pages, spaces, folders, tags, collections, whiteboards, daily notes and templates. |
| AI | Connect Claude, ChatGPT or a local model to your notes through the built-in MCP server. Bring-your-own AI provider chat is on the roadmap. Run coding agents such as Claude Code or Codex as tabs beside your documents. | Craft Assistant on monthly credits, your own OpenAI or Anthropic account, or on-device models on Apple devices. MCP and an API. |
| Sharing and collaboration | Not yet. Collaboration is on the roadmap. | Real-time collaboration, shared spaces and one-click web publishing. |
| Version history | Saved, named versions you can compare. | 7 days on the free plan, 30 days on Plus. |
| Export | Markdown and TextBundle. | PDF, Word, Markdown, TextBundle and images. Bulk export on Mac and iPad only. |
Craft is a cloud service. Its apps keep documents available offline, and External Locations can keep a space on your device, but Craft does not recommend those across several devices.
Koru starts from the other end. Your workspace lives on your computer, works with no connection and no account, and syncs directly to your other devices when they can reach each other. Koru Cloud, an optional paid service, is coming soon for people who want an always-on copy, but you never need it to use your documents.
Craft encrypts your data on its servers and says it will not read private notes without your consent. That is a promise about its own systems. Koru keeps your documents off servers altogether, and the app is open source under MPL-2.0, so anyone can read the code and see what it does with your notes.
Craft is one of the most polished document apps around. It won Mac App of the Year, its iPhone and iPad apps are a pleasure to use, and it publishes documents to the web in one click. Koru is younger: it runs on Windows today, the Mac app is in beta and the phone apps are in development.
If design and Apple devices matter most, Craft is the better tool for now. If you want documents that stay on your hardware, in an app you can inspect, Koru is built for that.
Craft builds AI into the editor, with a credit allowance per plan, and also connects to outside tools over MCP. Koru does not include its own AI chat yet. Its MCP server runs locally on your computer, so Claude, ChatGPT or a local model through Ollama can work with your documents, and coding agents such as Claude Code or Codex run as tabs right beside them. With a local model, nothing leaves your machine.
Missing something you rely on? Tell us at hello@koru.do. What people ask for shapes the roadmap, and when Koru Cloud launches, subscribers will vote on what we build next.
Koru imports Craft’s TextBundle and Markdown exports offline. Nothing is fetched from Craft and you do not connect your account.
Yes, with no account and no trial. Koru Cloud, an optional paid sync service, is coming soon from $9.99 a month, but your documents and device-to-device sync never depend on it.
Your documents stay on your own devices, and sync between them is end-to-end encrypted, with no Koru server in the middle. Craft encrypts data in transit and at rest on AWS and says it does not offer end-to-end encryption.
Yes. Export them from Craft as TextBundle or Markdown, then import them in Koru. Text, lists, tasks, tables, code, links and images come across. Collections, whiteboards and comments do not.
Koru runs on Windows today. The Mac app is in beta, and the iOS and Android apps are in development. If you need Craft’s Apple apps every day, Craft is the better fit for now.
Yes, with the AI you already use. Koru’s built-in MCP server lets tools such as Claude, ChatGPT or a local Ollama model read and work with your documents, and coding agents such as Claude Code run as tabs inside Koru. Built-in AI chat with your own provider is on the roadmap.
Not yet. Koru is built for your own documents today, and collaboration is on the roadmap. If you share or publish documents often, Craft is the better choice for now.
