Tana is a cloud outliner built around supertags, fields, and structured nodes. It's powerful, polished, and beloved by people who think in graphs. Advisor Prep Hero is a local-first Word-native workspace with profession-specific practice packs for attorneys, CPAs, and consultants. A professional might love either one; they're different shapes for different brains. The honest split: Tana for "I want to build a knowledge graph and query it." Advisor Prep Hero for "I want my confidential client work in real .docx files I own, with matter-scoped AI recall."
| Feature | Tana | Advisor Prep Hero |
|---|---|---|
| Where data lives | Tana's cloud | Your hard drive (Markdown) |
| Pricing | $10/mo Plus, $14/mo Pro (annual) | $948/yr (Professional) + your AI provider's API |
| Where your prompts go | Through Tana's servers to the AI model | Direct from your machine to the AI provider (Anthropic/OpenAI/Google). Advisor Prep Hero is not in the path. |
| What's stored on a vendor's server | Your notes and graph structure (Tana's cloud is the source of truth) | Nothing. No documents, no prompts, no API key on Advisor Prep Hero servers. |
| Data model | Outliner with supertags, fields, queries | Word-native .docx + plain-text utility files |
| AI | Built-in AI commands | BYOK Claude / OpenAI / Gemini / Ollama |
| Profession-specific practice packs | No (templates exist but generic) | 50+ built-in templates across legal, tax, consulting, and advisory practices |
| Image attachments in AI | Yes | Paste, drag, paperclip per provider |
| PDF chat with native vision | Limited | Drop in, Claude reads it natively |
| PDFs in workspace search | No | Toggle in Memory settings |
| Long-context [Compress] | No | Yes |
| Read aloud (TTS), local | No | Local Piper sidecar |
| Plugin / extension model | No | No plugin ecosystem |
| UI languages | English | English, Espanol, Deutsch |
| Wiki-links / backlinks | Yes (deep) | No |
| Query language | Powerful structured queries | Full-text search only |
| Mobile | iOS, Android | Read via cloud-sync workaround |
| Multi-device sync | Built-in cloud | BYO via Dropbox / iCloud / Syncthing |
| Offline editing | Limited | Full editing offline |
| Real-time collab | Yes (Pro tier) | No |
| Data export | JSON / Markdown | Already in Markdown |
Tana's data lives in their cloud. Export is available but the working format is theirs. Advisor Prep Hero's data lives on your machine in Markdown. For attorneys, CPAs, and consultants building a long strategic record of client work, the compounding-archive value over multiple years tilts toward Advisor Prep Hero, and the confidentiality requirements may make local-first non-negotiable.
Tana has templates (it's actually one of its strengths) but they're general-purpose, user-built. Advisor Prep Hero ships 15 practice packs designed for professional work, each running as a guided AI interview that produces a finished doc. Client intake, engagement letter, matter strategy, financial projections, weekly review.
Tana's AI is bundled into the subscription. Advisor Prep Hero is BYOK: you bring your own Claude / OpenAI / Gemini key and switch per conversation. Your API key lives in your OS keychain and prompts go straight from your machine to the provider. You see exactly what the AI costs, you choose the model per conversation, and sensitive client content never passes through Advisor Prep Hero's servers.
Tana's outliner-plus-supertags model rewards a specific working style. If you're writing engagement letters and matter memos more than building knowledge graphs, the data model is overhead. Advisor Prep Hero's Word-native model fits document-shaped professional work more naturally.
Tana's signature feature is the ability to define a "supertag" (e.g., #person, #project, #meeting) and then query across all instances ("show me all #project where #status = 'active' and #owner = me"). This is a real superpower for users who think in structured data. Advisor Prep Hero has no graph view or structured query; it focuses on document-shaped work with matter-scoped cited recall over your full archive.
Tana's UX for outlining, breadcrumbs, indents, transclusion is the most polished in the category. If you're already a Roam/Logseq/Workflowy user, Tana feels like the natural next step.
Tana has native iOS and Android apps. Advisor Prep Hero is desktop-only.
Tana Pro supports multi-user editing. Advisor Prep Hero is single-user.
| Tana | Advisor Prep Hero | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your documents live | Tana's cloud (the source of truth for your graph) | Your hard drive. Markdown files in a folder you own. |
| Where your prompts go | Through Tana's infrastructure to the AI model | Direct from your machine to the AI provider. Advisor Prep Hero is not in the path. |
| API key custody | Tana's key, bundled into the subscription | Your OS keychain. Advisor Prep Hero never sees it. |
| Vendor retention policy applies to your content | Yes, per Tana's privacy policy | No. Nothing stored on Advisor Prep Hero servers. |
| Can you use it for privileged or NDA-bound client work? | Depends on your obligations and Tana's terms | Files stay on your machine, Advisor Prep Hero never sees them. AI prompts go to the provider you chose; use Ollama for fully local inference. |
| Pricing | $120/yr Plus, $168/yr Pro | Solo $468/yr, Professional $948/yr, Firm $1,548/seat/yr (min 3 seats). Plus your own AI provider's API costs (typically $5-15/mo). |
The biggest adjustment: you lose the structured-query feature. If your Tana workflow depends heavily on supertag queries, Advisor Prep Hero will feel less expressive. If your Tana workflow is mostly outlining + AI assistance, the migration is straightforward and you'll barely notice.
Download free for 30 days, no credit card. Solo $468/yr, Professional $948/yr, Firm $1,548/seat/yr (min 3 seats). Documents and API key stay on your machine.
Download free for 30 daysFounding rate: 30% off, locked for life. Reserve the founding price while it lasts.
Built for your field: attorneys and consultants. See all: advisorprephero.com for attorneys, tax pros, and consultants.