# refern

> refern is a local-first desktop visual reference manager for artists and designers. It combines Eagle-style organization and search, a PureRef-style infinite canvas, and an Obsidian-style relationship graph view in one app. It costs $30 one time (launch pricing), runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and never copies your files.

refern is for illustrators, concept artists, photographers, 3D artists, designers, and other visual creatives who collect and organize reference images. A workspace is an ordinary folder on disk; refern indexes your files in place (it does not move or copy your originals) and stores a small database and thumbnail cache alongside them. It works fully offline with no account.

Key facts:
- Price: $30 USD one-time, lifetime updates, up to 3 devices, commercial use included. 30-day free trial, no account required. Launch pricing; rises to $35 about two months after launch.
- Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux (built on Tauri v2 / Rust).
- Does not copy files. Local-first. No cloud required, no telemetry, no tracking.
- Canvas: infinite canvas with layers, text, shapes, freehand drawing, image filters, non-destructive crop, and pin-on-top with transparency and click-through.
- Library: folders, hierarchical tags, smart folders, ratings, color labels, color search by hex, local image-to-image visual similarity, duplicate detection, and 14-plus typed search operators.
- Relationships: typed entity links and a navigable relationship graph view across folders, images, canvases, groups, and tags.
- Capture: browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari; drag and drop; Import from Eagle (folders, tags, ratings, sources, notes); reads embedded EXIF/IPTC/XMP metadata.
- Roadmap (not yet shipped): cloud sync and sharing, web and mobile apps, plugins, 3D model support, local auto-tagging.

## Key pages
- [Home, download, and pricing](https://refern.app): 30-day free trial; $30 one-time license.
- [refern vs Eagle](https://refern.app/compare/refern-vs-eagle): head-to-head comparison.
- [refern vs PureRef](https://refern.app/compare/refern-vs-pureref): head-to-head comparison.
- [Best Eagle alternatives](https://refern.app/alternatives/best-eagle-alternatives): honest roundup.
- [What is a reference manager](https://refern.app/glossary/what-is-a-reference-manager): definition.

## Comparisons
refern is most often compared to Eagle (it adds a canvas, a relationship graph, Linux support, and does not copy files), PureRef (it adds organization, search, and a persistent library around the canvas), and Obsidian (it brings a graph view to a visual reference library instead of notes).