# The Best Second Brain Tools With MCP Support (2026) Source: https://lotsnotes.com/blog/best-second-brain-tools-with-mcp-support Published: 2026-11-05T00:30:26.770139+00:00 The second brain tools that work with AI agents today are the ones with an MCP server your agent can connect to: LotsNotes, Notion, Basic Memory, Tana Outliner and Fabric all have one, and Obsidian gets there through community servers. If your goal is for Claude, ChatGPT or Codex to read your notes and write back to them, MCP support is the feature to check first. I run LotsNotes and I put it first, because I built it for people who use more than one agent and want every agent to read the same notes. Every other tool below is checked against its own pages, as of 4 November 2026. A second brain is simply the place where you keep what you know: decisions, research, ideas, how you do things. The 2026 question is whether your AI agents can open it too, and whether they can only read it or also write to it. I say which for each tool, and only when its own docs say so. ## The short list | Tool | MCP support (from its own docs) | Agent access | Price to start | |---|---|---|---| | LotsNotes | Remote MCP with OAuth, plus REST | Read and write | Free for one person, Pro $99 once | | Notion | Remote MCP with OAuth, on every plan | Read and update | Free, Plus $10, Business $20 per member per month | | Obsidian | No MCP on its own pages; community servers | Depends on the server | Free, Sync from $4 per month | | Basic Memory | Local MCP (open source) and a cloud service | Read and write | Free local, Cloud $19 per month | | Tana Outliner | Local MCP (free) and hosted MCP (beta, paid plans) | Search, read and modify | Free, Plus $8 per month billed yearly | | Fabric | Remote MCP with OAuth | Read and write | See fabric.so/pricing | ## 1. LotsNotes: one set of notes for every agent you use I built LotsNotes so that I write my business context once (positioning, voice, decisions, rules) and every agent reads the same current notes over MCP or REST. You organize notes in workspaces and folders, and a note titled `AGENTS.md` at the workspace or folder level is the instruction file agents read first. Agents find notes by title and read only what they need. - **MCP:** `https://api.lotsnotes.com/mcp`, OAuth, no key. The tool list at [api.lotsnotes.com/tools.json](https://api.lotsnotes.com/tools.json) has 34 tools: list workspaces and folders, find and read notes, create and update notes, move notes and folders, list and restore versions, archive and restore. - **Read and write:** yes, and agents act as you, so they see only the folders you can access. Private notes are never returned to agents or the API. - **History:** notes keep their version history, so an agent's edit can be rolled back. - **Price:** Free covers one person with 1 workspace, 3 folders, unlimited notes and checklists, and MCP and REST access. LotsNotes Pro is $99 once, with unlimited workspaces, folders and team members with roles. It is included with any Pro or Business plan of LotsSocial, LotsBlog, LotsTeam, LotsCRM, LotsInvoice, LotsBusiness or LotsStore. Checked on 4 November 2026 at [lotsnotes.com/pricing](https://lotsnotes.com/pricing). Our own AI agents keep their instructions, plans and handoffs in LotsNotes, and Claude, Codex and cloud agents read them from there. **Pick it if** you run a business or a small team and the knowledge you want agents to share is working context: brand voice, customer notes, procedures, decisions. If you want a personal capture tool with graph views or an outliner, one of the tools below fits that job better. The setup guide for each agent is in [How to Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Codex and Cursor to LotsNotes](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/connect-claude-chatgpt-codex-cursor-to-lotsnotes). ## 2. Notion: the all-in-one workspace Notion is the familiar choice for notes, wikis and databases in one place. Its own developer docs describe Notion MCP as a hosted server at `https://mcp.notion.com/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, with an SSE fallback). After you authorize the connection, your AI assistant can read and update content that you can access in the selected workspace. - **Plans:** the docs say Notion MCP works on every plan. MCP tokens, which skip the browser sign-in, are for Business and Enterprise, and only workspace owners can create them. Request limits are higher on Business and Enterprise. - **Guests:** only workspace members can connect Notion MCP; guests can't. - **Price:** the pricing page lists Free at $0, Plus at $10 and Business at $20 per member per month, with a yearly option that saves up to 20%. Checked on 4 November 2026 at [notion.com/pricing](https://www.notion.com/pricing). **Pick it if** you already live in Notion and want your agent to work inside the same pages and databases. If you want something lighter for agents, see [Notion MCP Alternatives](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/notion-mcp-alternatives) and [LotsNotes vs Notion](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/lotsnotes-vs-notion). ## 3. Obsidian: local Markdown files you own Obsidian keeps your notes as files on your own device, and the app is free without limits. Its pricing page lists Sync at $4 per user per month billed annually ($5 billed monthly) and Publish at $8 per site per month billed annually ($10 monthly). Checked on 4 November 2026 at [obsidian.md/pricing](https://obsidian.md/pricing). On MCP, I opened Obsidian's homepage, pricing page and CLI help page, and none of them mention MCP. The CLI help page describes terminal commands for scripts and automations, and says the developer commands let agentic coding tools test and debug. If you want an agent to work with a vault, the usual routes are community-built MCP servers, or a memory server that points at your vault: Basic Memory, below, has an [Obsidian integration page](https://basicmemory.com/integrations/obsidian) for that. Whether those can write depends on the server you pick, so check its documentation. **Pick it if** you want your notes as plain local files and you are happy to assemble the agent side yourself. ## 4. Basic Memory: an open source memory built on Markdown Basic Memory describes itself as one shared memory for every AI agent and every person on a team, kept in plain Markdown files. Its own pages say it works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and any MCP client, and its team playbook describes a knowledge base that people and AI agents read and write together. - **Price:** free and open source (AGPL-3.0) on your own machine. Cloud is $19 per month per workspace with 1,900 credits a month and up to 3 API keys. Pro is $99 per month with up to 5 members and up to 10 API keys, including read-only and project-scoped keys. Business is $249 per month with up to 25 members. Usage credits are $0.01 each. Checked on 4 November 2026 at [basicmemory.com/pricing](https://basicmemory.com/pricing). - **Export:** notes are plain Markdown you can export at any time. **Pick it if** you want agent memory you can read as files, run locally for free, and move to a hosted workspace later. For a wider look at memory servers, see [The Best MCP Memory Servers for AI Agents](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/best-mcp-memory-servers). ## 5. Tana Outliner: structured notes with supertags Tana Outliner is an outliner where you tag a bullet with a supertag to turn it into a task, a project, a meeting or anything else you define. It is a separate product from Tana's meeting platform. Its docs describe two MCP servers: - **Local:** runs inside the desktop app (the app must be running), is on by default and is free. Tools include `search_nodes`, `read_node` and `import_tana_paste`, and clients such as Claude Code can search your workspace, read nodes and create or modify content. - **Hosted (beta):** `https://app.tana.inc/mcp`, with OAuth, for remote clients. The docs say it requires a paid plan. - **Price:** Free is $0. The pricing page lists Plus at $8 and Pro at $14 per month, billed yearly (the page's student discount lines work out to the same figures). Checked on 4 November 2026 at [outliner.tana.inc/pricing](https://outliner.tana.inc/pricing). **Pick it if** you think in structured outlines and want agents to search and edit that structure. ## 6. Fabric: a capture-everything workspace Fabric is a workspace for notes, files, links and tasks. Its MCP guide says the server lets AI tools access your saved links, files and notes, with OAuth, at `https://mcp.api.fabric.so/mcp`. The tools list covers both directions: find, read and search items, memories and tags, and create, edit, move and delete notes, bookmarks, folders, memories and tasks. The guide lists setup for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, VS Code and ChatGPT. For plan prices, check [fabric.so/pricing](https://fabric.so/pricing). The MCP guide does not name a plan requirement; it says item creation can stop if you run out of storage or AI usage for your plan. **Pick it if** your second brain is mostly things you save: links, files, clippings and meeting notes. ## How to choose - **You want every agent to share business context:** LotsNotes. One set of notes, roles for your team, version history. - **You already run your work in Notion:** Notion MCP, so the agent works where your pages already are. - **You want local files you own:** Obsidian, and add an MCP server of your choice. - **You want open source agent memory:** Basic Memory. - **You think in structured outlines:** Tana Outliner. - **You save a lot of links and files:** Fabric. If you are also comparing wider categories, my other roundups cover [notes apps with an MCP server](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/best-notes-apps-with-mcp-server) and [knowledge base tools with MCP support](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/best-knowledge-base-tools-with-mcp-support). ## FAQ ### What is a second brain tool with MCP support? It is a notes or knowledge app that runs a Model Context Protocol server, so an AI agent such as Claude, ChatGPT or Codex can connect to it and use your notes. Without MCP, you paste notes into each chat by hand. ### Can an AI agent write to my second brain, or only read? It depends on the tool. LotsNotes, Basic Memory and Fabric describe read and write access in their docs, Notion describes reading and updating, and Tana Outliner describes searching, reading and modifying. For any tool, check whether the connection is read only before you rely on it. ### Does Obsidian have MCP support? I found no mention of MCP on Obsidian's homepage, pricing page or CLI help page, checked on 4 November 2026. Community-built MCP servers exist, and tools like Basic Memory can work with an Obsidian vault. ### Which of these second brain tools are free? LotsNotes (one person), Notion, Obsidian, Tana Outliner and Basic Memory (self-hosted, open source) all have a free way to start. Tana's hosted MCP needs a paid plan, and Notion's MCP tokens need Business or Enterprise. ### Is Notion MCP available on the free plan? Yes. Notion's docs say Notion MCP works on every plan. Some features depend on the plan, such as MCP tokens and higher request limits. ### Do I still need a notes app if ChatGPT or Claude has memory? Vendor memory is tied to one assistant. Notes that every agent can read stay the same whichever agent you open. I wrote up the difference in [AI Agent Memory vs Shared Notes](https://lotsnotes.com/blog/ai-agent-memory-vs-shared-notes). ## Sources Checked on 4 November 2026: [LotsNotes pricing](https://lotsnotes.com/pricing), [LotsNotes tools](https://api.lotsnotes.com/tools.json), [Notion MCP guide](https://developers.notion.com/guides/mcp/get-started-with-mcp), [Notion pricing](https://www.notion.com/pricing), [Obsidian pricing](https://obsidian.md/pricing), [Obsidian CLI help](https://obsidian.md/help/cli), [Basic Memory pricing](https://basicmemory.com/pricing), [Basic Memory llms.txt](https://basicmemory.com/llms.txt), [Tana Outliner MCP docs](https://outliner.tana.inc/learn/features/local-api-mcp), [Tana Outliner pricing](https://outliner.tana.inc/pricing), [Fabric MCP guide](https://fabric.so/guide/ai-tools/MCP-setup).