Glassy has three tiers: Free, Pro, and Clear. Free and Pro are the workspace — the notes, the bookmarks, the voice memos, the local AI. Clear is different. Clear is not really a tier at all. It is a membership: a private community that lives inside Glassy itself. This post explains what that means, what you get, and who it is for.
Not a plan. A membership.
Most software communities live somewhere else — a Discord you mute, a forum you forget, a Slack that scrolls away. Clear is built the other way around. The community lives where the work already happens: inside the workspace you open every day.
The Clear instance is private. Only members see what other members share. Follow the people whose work you like, and their notes, captures, and pages show up in a feed inside the same app you use to think. No second tab. No context switch. The community is just there when you want it, and quiet when you don't.
What a Clear membership includes
- The downloads store — Themes, backgrounds, templates, and integrations, dropped regularly and all included. It grows the whole time you're a member.
- Every new thing, first — New AI tools, experimental features, and optional extras land in Clear before anywhere else. Not on a delay. Ahead.
- A real say — Roadmap input, bug priorities, and feature ideas go straight to the people building Glassy. A conversation, not a suggestion box.
- The founders, in the room — We're active members, not admins behind glass. You see what we're making and what's breaking as it happens.
- The unrestricted Docker build — today — Clear members get the full single-user Docker build now. It's ready. Run Glassy on your own machine, unrestricted, while you're a member.
- Founding Member status — The first 100 members are Founding Members, permanently — in the app, in the changelog, and in the open-source repo when it ships (BSL 1.1 now, AGPL-3.0 after Kickstarter goals are met).
Yes — Clear members get the Docker build
One of the most concrete perks of Clear is the unrestricted single-user Docker build, and it is ready today. It runs the exact same image as our hosted production deployment — there is no cut-down "self-hosted edition." You get the full workspace:
- MCP server — Expose your knowledge base to Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Hermes, Openclaw, Pi, and any MCP-compatible AI agent. See how it works.
- Hybrid search — BM25 + vector search with Reciprocal Rank Fusion. See the architecture.
- Obsidian sync — Bidirectional sync with your Obsidian vault, including live sync that a cloud host can't reach. See the sync guide.
- Browser extension — The Glassy Companion connects to your own instance.
- Local AI — Qwen 2.5, Whisper, and mxbai/MiniLM run in your browser via WebGPU regardless of where the server lives.
- Voice Studio — Record and transcribe audio locally.
For the setup walkthrough, see Self-hosting Glassy with Docker: a 15-minute guide.
What about free self-hosting?
We believe a workspace that works with your brain shouldn't be locked behind a subscription for people who can't pay for one. So a free, open-source release of the single-user build is coming — published on GitHub for anyone to run. That release is a future milestone; the build itself already exists, which is why Clear members can run it today. When the free version ships, Clear members will have been running it — and shaping it — long before.
How Clear differs from Pro
Pro is the whole workspace, solo. Clear is the whole workspace plus the community, the store, early access, and the Docker build. The difference isn't more features in the editor — it's being inside what Glassy is becoming.
| Aspect | Pro | Clear |
|---|---|---|
| Full workspace, cloud AI, Voice Studio, Obsidian sync | Yes | Yes |
| Private community + feed, inside the app | — | Yes |
| Downloads store (themes, templates, all included) | — | Yes |
| Every new feature and AI tool first | — | Yes |
| Unrestricted single-user Docker build | — | Today |
| Roadmap input · founders in your feed | — | Yes |
| Pricing | $17/mo or $100/yr | $80/mo or $300/yr |
Why Clear costs more
Clear is $80/month or $300/year — more than Pro. Pro is a great workspace at a fair price. Clear is a living thing: a community, a stream of new tools and store drops, the Docker build, and a direct line into what gets built next. You're not paying for extra buttons. You're paying to be at the front of the wave, and to help decide where it goes.
See our pricing page for the full tier comparison, or the Clear page for everything the membership includes.
Who is Clear for?
- Builders and early adopters — People who want the newest AI tools and features the moment they exist, not months later.
- People who like to be in the room — If you'd rather shape a product than file a ticket and hope, Clear is where that conversation happens.
- Self-hosters who want it now — The unrestricted Docker build is ready today for members, ahead of the free public release.
- People who found Glassy and want more of it — More tools, more community, more of what's next.