Comparison
SavedThat vs Heptabase for saved videos
Of the visual note tools, Heptabase takes video most seriously: a YouTube video becomes a card you can place, link and question. The question is whether that is the same job as finding a moment in the hundreds of videos you saved and forgot.
Quick verdict
- Choose Heptabase if you research a topic on a whiteboard and a few YouTube videos are sources you want to map, annotate and question card by card.
- Choose SavedThat if you save videos all day from your phone - Reels and TikToks included - and later need to find the one where someone said the thing.
Side-by-side
| Feature | SavedThat | Heptabase |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A searchable library of the videos you save | A visual note-taking tool: cards on whiteboards, for research |
| YouTube | Transcribed on save, searchable across the whole library | Video card; on Pro, a transcript from the caption track that the AI chat reads |
| Instagram Reels, TikTok | Transcribed like YouTube, same search | No documented video card or transcript for them |
| Find a moment by what was said | Search every saved video at once, open at that second | Ask the AI about a video card you already picked |
| Organisation | None needed - one library, one search box | You place cards on whiteboards, tag and link them |
| Save from the phone | Android Share (iPhone app on the way) | Mobile app focused on reading cards, journals and whiteboards |
| Pricing | First 5 videos free. Then Pro $5.92/mo or Power $10.17/mo (billed yearly), 7-day trial. | Pro $8.99/mo, Premium $17.99/mo as listed; no free plan listed |
What actually lands in Heptabase when you save a video
| You save | What ends up in Heptabase | Findable by a phrase said at 0:40? |
|---|---|---|
| A YouTube video | A video card you can mention, tag and backlink. On Pro you can generate a transcript from its caption track. | Yes, by asking the AI about that card. You need to know which card first. |
| An Instagram Reel | A link. No Reel video card or transcript is documented. | No. |
| A TikTok | A link. No TikTok video card or transcript is documented. | No. |
| A video file you upload | A video card in your library. | Transcripts are documented for YouTube cards. |
Per Heptabase's docs as of October 2026: video cards (v1.19.0), using a video with the AI agent, pricing.
What Heptabase does better
Heptabase is built for a kind of thinking SavedThat does not attempt.
Visual research. Cards on whiteboards, arranged and connected by you, with the same card appearing on many boards. For working through a hard topic from many sources, that spatial view is the product, and it is very good.
A YouTube video is a first-class source. You can mention a video card in a note, tag it, backlink it and put it next to the PDF and the article it argues with. SavedThat keeps videos in a library; it does not put them on a canvas.
Chat with a source while you think. On Pro, the AI reads a YouTube card's transcript, so you can question the video right where you are working.
What SavedThat does better
The overlap is «I need something from a video». The two tools start that job from opposite ends.
It searches all of them, not one card. You do not need to know which video it was. Type what you remember, in your own words, and SavedThat searches the speech of every video you have saved and opens the right one at the right second.
Reels and TikToks count. Most videos people save from a phone are short. SavedThat transcribes Reels and TikToks exactly like YouTube; in Heptabase they stay links.
Saving takes one tap. Share from Instagram, TikTok or YouTube on Android (iPhone app on the way), or use the Chrome extension. No board to choose, nothing to tag.
Choose Heptabase if…
- You think visually and work on whiteboards
- Videos are a few sources inside a bigger research project
- Your videos are on YouTube
- You want PDFs, notes and videos side by side
Choose SavedThat if…
- You save many videos, mostly from your phone
- Reels and TikToks are a big part of what you save
- You don't remember which video, only what was said
- You want to save without organising anything
Two jobs that look like one
«I want to use what I learned from videos» hides two separate moments. The first is retrieval: out of everything you have saved over months, which video was it, and where in it? The second is working: once you have it, connect it to what else you know.
Heptabase is excellent at the second moment and assumes the first is done; a video card exists because you put it there. SavedThat only does the first. The failure most people hit is the first one: the video is saved somewhere, the idea is half-remembered, and no amount of whiteboard structure helps when the right video never made it onto a board. If you save a few long YouTube talks for a project, Heptabase alone carries them. If you save Reels and TikToks every day, it was never going to.
Use both: Heptabase to think, SavedThat to find
Save everything to SavedThat. When a project starts, search for what you half-remember, open the moment, and bring the YouTube video into Heptabase as a card where you work with it. Each SavedThat result has a link to the exact second, and Settings, Data & privacy, Export transcripts gives you the text as Markdown when you want the words themselves in a note. If you use an AI assistant alongside, the SavedThat MCP server lets it search your saved videos too.
For the full field, see how the other note apps handle saved videos.
FAQ
Does Heptabase transcribe YouTube videos?
Yes. A YouTube video card can generate a transcript; Heptabase picks a caption track automatically, and its AI chat answers from that transcript rather than from the video itself. Heptabase's pricing page lists YouTube transcripts as a Pro feature.
Can Heptabase handle Instagram Reels or TikToks?
Heptabase documents video cards for YouTube and for videos you upload. It does not document a video card or a transcript for an Instagram Reel or a TikTok link, so those stay links.
What is the real difference from SavedThat?
Heptabase works on the video you already chose: you put the card on a whiteboard and ask about it. SavedThat works on the video you cannot find: you type what you remember and it searches every Reel, TikTok and YouTube video you ever saved, then opens the one you meant at the right second.
Can I use Heptabase and SavedThat together?
Yes, and the split is natural. Find the moment in SavedThat, then put that YouTube video on your Heptabase whiteboard as a card to think with. Every SavedThat result has a link that opens the video at that second, and Settings, Data & privacy, Export transcripts gives you the transcripts as Markdown.
How much does Heptabase cost?
On heptabase.com/pricing in October 2026, Pro is listed at $8.99 a month, Premium at $17.99 and Premium+ at $53.99, with 25% off yearly; no free plan is listed. SavedThat is free for your first 5 videos with no card, then Pro or Power with a 7-day trial.
Try SavedThat free
5 videos free, no card. Then Pro or Power with a 7-day trial. Works with Reels, TikToks, Shorts, and any YouTube video.
Start saving free →