Recommendations for a FOSS Cross-Platform Note-Taking Application
Up to now I've been using Simplenote, which has a Linux client (but also Android & iOS) & supports live collaboration on notes. However, Simplenote hasn't had a meaningful update for a long time, & it's recently been behaving strangely, e.g. notes undeleting themselves, line duplications & undeletions.
Can anyone recommend an alternative? Spinning up an ownCloud/nextcloud instance just to use Joplin feels a little overkill. I stumbled across turtl, but the project looks abandoned.
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Joplin has multiple sync options. Other than Nextcloud, you can use OneDrive, Dropbox, and they have a subscription service as well.
Obsidian is another to look at, but you need to either pay for sync or bring your own sync (
though I don't know that you can sync to mobile without using their syncedit: see below comment by @[email protected] that explains how to do it).I think it's probably helpful to know if sync across platforms is important to you, and if so, whether you're willing to pay for it. I'm not sure that there are really many alternatives to an app provided for free with free syncing - that costs money to provide and honestly I'd be a bit dubious about using a service like that.
You can select a local folder in Obsidian for Android and sync the folder with Syncthing. You can even revoke network permissions for Obsidian and it all works completely offline (Flatpak override:
--unshare=network/ GrapheneOS: don't allow the network permission).This is my current setup, even though Obsidian is not FOSS. I like that it stores standard Markdown files in a traditional filesystem hierarchy, instead of what Joplin does with using Markdown files as a database. This means that with Obsidian I can use any text editor or any other Markdown app to access and edit my notes, whereas with Joplin I would have to export them first to standard Markdown and then potentially rename and reorganise all the files and their attachments.
Unfortunately with iOS you are stuck with Obsidian Sync because Syncthing does not work because of the permission model. Otherwise I prefer Obsidian over Joplin for the above mentioned reasons and nice extension ecosystem. It's easy to get your files out of Obsidian, no vendor lock-in
Möbius sync is a Syncthing client for iOS. I have the same setup as Foss Is Fun and everything works very well
I am also using iOS with Möbius Sync and it is working quite well. The sync is not running all the time in the background due to iOS restrictions but it is running multiple times per day on my device.
The option to sync folders was only introduced this year. It costs about 5$ one time payment.
Syncing over iCloud drive works well (Obsidian, iOS).
If you run iCloud and syncthing on the same machine you can point syncthing at the icloud folder, and you’ve got a way to sync icloud to Linux.
I as well use iCloud for syncing and it works well.
Thanks!
There will be many conversion tools for Joplin to other structures. So I guess the format is a non issue.
Joplin has export options itself, but I just don't like how Joplin manages notes on a filesystem. If it can be done nicely (see Obsidian), why bother with something needlessly complex (file structure, need to sync with the filesystem, etc.)?
But everyone has different requirements and for the right person, Joplin can certainly be a good solution. ;)
Joplin explains on their website that it's for preformance that they use a database rather than flat files.
Git clone with something like Termux on Android ? Bit of hassle, but you can make a desktop shortcut with bash scripts to make it easier.
That's what I've gone for. I use Obsidian as an editor on Android. It's not ideal but the best I've found so far. On desktop I use Pulsar and sometimes micro.
Emacs + orgmode + org-capture + deft + orgzly + syncthing
Sexy Stallman pose
Based and emacspilled
I approve this message.
Eek TIL about orgzly. GPL3 so I guess it'll find a way forward
True answer.
Obsidian is a brilliant note app, it's free provided you setup your cloud sync solution (I use syncthing) as it just creates .md files that you can do whatever you want with
Obsidian sadly isn't open source though.
No it's not, but it is incredibly consumer friendly
Indeed. Everything is stored in plain markdown files you can move around and edit elsewhere. I'd like to use a FOSS alternative when I can, but second best is something I can easily jump ship from and not lose data.
Markor is FOSS and stores notes as md or txt files. I like that feature as well, I can sync it to outside devices and not need any specific app to open them.
I just sync a directory called "Notes" everywhere and use whatever text editor is most comfortable on any given platform to edit Markdown documents. Helix on desktop, Markor (or, increasingly, Simple Text Editor) on Android. For checklists, same thing except I use todo.txt for the file format, and the todo script on the desktop and Simpletask on Android.
I have been looking for a self-hosted, concurrent collaborative web editor, as asking my wife to write Markdown is a bit much, and the syncing becomes more complex, but I haven't settled on something.
Hedgedoc is a competent selfhostable alternative. V2.0 is around the corner.
Thanks, Hedgedoc looks like a neat project. It's focused on Markdown, which is nice, and the preview is handy. The editor requires some knowledge of Markdown, and willingness to use it in some instances, which means it won't be the best option for my wife. While she's certainly capable of learning markdown, she has no willingness - it's one of those areas where she just can't be arsed to fuss with it. Embedding images, for example, and even seeing the markup while she's editing is distracting for her.
Anyway, I need to find some WYSIWIG editor. If it saves and loads markdown, all the better, but it's more important that the editor lool Word-ish, which is what she has to use at work.
Thanks for the pointer, though!
Logseq good alternative to obsidian Use syncthink or save the files to drive for syncing
Here's a few I've been trying lately,
I tried all for an extended period of time and landed with Anytype being the best for my needs. It's quite new on the market but has a super pleasing UI, very secure and is based in Switzerland 🇨🇭
Anytype looks interesting but it looks like most of it is non-free non-opensource software:
from https://blog.anytype.io/our-open-philosophy/
Good to know, thanks for sharing.
Isn't their offering on storage go from infinite to 10 gb? Also it isn't foss... yet
I forgot about that part 😅
I think by now all their components are oss. At least they released their storage server recently.
Just sync .text or .md files using syncthing. Total control!
I do the same, and eventually I started using Obsidian on top, but you can always switch to something else that opens markdown (vim!)
Maybe Notesnook? There's a free version and they also offer a payed plan if you need more options.
Notesnook looks really promising!
Ive tried Notesnook recently and although very promising, it didn't quite suit my needs. Have tried to get my money back as I went for a year subscription. But they have yet to respond to my email about it... Getting slightly worried. Just a heads up.
For note taking, Joplin is pretty good, in fact I went from Simplenote to Evernote (over kill and not free) to Joplin using Dropbox for the syncing (syncing is done by Joplin, so you don't need a 'syncing' app) between my PCs, all Linux and my Android phone. Simple to set up and free. I do not use it as a Journal as that is extremely poor, but for notes, it's perfect
I’m rethinking how I keep notes etc and something you wrote really caught my attention; that you don’t use it for journaling but do for note-taking.
What are the differences between note taking and journaling that requires different applications? Also, what do you use for journaling in that case?
Joplin is really good for notes, (I tried uploading a Screenshot for you, but keep getting errors) , how and what to do when installing a Linux for instance. With it's sub categories. But for me at least it's useless for a daily diary use. I've been using Diaro on my phone for years now for my personal journal, as it's perfect for noting what do on the day, though I would like to have another option without my data being stored with them, syncing straight to my Dropbox or NextCloud for instance
Thanks for explaining. I’ve never considered using separate apps before, but I do get a little lost having everything in one app.
What features does Diaryo have that makes it better for journaling? I always thought of journaling as just note-taking about a different subject (my day).
It's just that Diaro and others diary apps are setup so that you see the date, title, tags, just like a paper version, again, something that you can't easily do in Joplin
Ahh, I get you now. That makes sense. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this to me. For chronological stuff I might use a different app also.
I had just been adding the newer entries above the previous. I’d put a heading on those in the format of YYY-MM-DD but that’s all manual on my part.
@Minty95 @OrkneyKomodo same here
@Minty95 @OrkneyKomodo syncing to nextcloud instead of dropbox though
They must have got this right finally. I tried that years ago, it took hours, where as Dropbox took a couple of seconds. And as I only use DB for that now. Never bothered changing it
You don't need your own server to use Joplin. You can select a local directory to store your notes and sync this directory with Syncthing between devices.
I am not sure if this works with iOS though.
iOS has Möbius Sync as a Syncthing client, but it is not free ( but only 5$ one time payment) if you want to sync folders from other apps like Syncthing. The option to sync other folders was introduced this year.
Joplin + Syncthing is great, as other people suggested.
I keep it even more simple: I write stuff in markdown, share my
.mdfiles with Syncthing and edit them with markdown editors.The best I've tried so far for Android is Markor, while on Linux I either use Ghostwriter (on KDE) or Marker (on Gnome)
If you want a really fancy markdown note-taking app try obsidian.md. Unfortunately not FOSS so perhaps not the solution for OP, but free for non-commercial use in case anyone else is interested.
That's all I had to hear
Nice foss alternative to obsidian is Logseq. Not completely feature for feature, but still very cool and powerful. I use it daily.
I've been using a Foss alternative called Logseq that's very similar.
Does logseq have tagging and an ability to query like data view in obsidian?
It'll automatically show tagged blocks from other pages in a special section. I don't know if it has anything as advanced as data view though, I haven't felt the need for anything other than displaying references. The plugin ecosystem seems decent, but I mostly just use basic functionality.
Agree about Joplin. No need for a full NextCloud instance, I use the WebDAV option which Apache has pretty much out of the box.
Notesnook and Standard Notes are really good. Both are end-to-end encrypted and FOSS.
Every other app and solution I've tried is kinda janky, e.g. using Dropbox, git, Syntching or some other app to sync across devices. I want an all-in-one, encrypted, cloud-based, FOSS solution.
I've been using Standard Notes for some years now and I'm pretty happy with it.
Trilium with trilium web clipper plugin, moememos with its web plugin and linkding with its plug in. Been able to keep up with all notes with this trio
Trilium is fantastic.
Moememos has a web plugin now?! Did they ever add offline?
Biggest issue with Joplin is that it doesn't store the actual markdown in files that I can see. You're basically screwed if you ever want to move to a different product.
Been using Joplin for ages, absolutely no dramas with it at all.
I use Zim, a local wiki which uses text files with a markdown-like syntax, Syncthing to synchronize the notes, and Markor on Android supports this syntax.
TiddlyWiki — a non-linear personal web notebook
https://tiddlywiki.com/
I've been using silverbullet.md but it's self hosted
Years ago, I was looking for something similar. Used turtl for almost a year before switching to Joplin. Joplin was great, but not quite what I needed, and when Logseq came around, I switched again to it. Again, Logseq was just not exactly what I needed (though it is pretty powerful!) and I was worried what would happen when the devs either made it paid or abandoned the project, like so many before it.
The solution to my woes was Emacs. Now, I won't pretend the learning curve isn't steep, but there just isn't anything that compares to it. Org-mode + Org-roam + notdeft is amazing, and I've never even looked for anything else since becoming accustomed to it. Plus, you can easily modify the existing tools or write your own to adapt it to your personal style.
You will never regret the time you invest in Emacs.
If you want it to be truly multiplat and want to control it, you either need a self-hosted web service (simple as a basic wiki or as complex as nextcloud) or just sync plaintext markdown files and use an editor on each platform. Anything else and you'll just eventually end up in the same situation.
@OrkneyKomodo
I use #syncthing as an alternative to cloud services. Share two folders, no matter where they are, on what device etc, provided the device can run a version of syncthing.
And its not only notes: pictures, movies and whatnot.
I transfered 60gb of pictures from the family oc to my phone with that
I use Trilium
Anyone else tried Acreom? I don't think it's open source though, but a local first markdown editor with some cool features like integration with Jira and has a nice UI.
That said, I still haven't decided if I will stick with it. I use Obsidian for journaling, brain dumps, and documenting projects in working on. Ive tried also using it as a Google Keep replacement, but its not really geared for the To-do/shopping lists that I use Keep for.
I use Joplin synced over Nextcloud.
Standard Notes is pretty good too
I personally use Markor on Android and (neo)vim on Linux. I sync the note files using rsync (but syncthing is totally viable also).
It's probably not the solution you want but thought I'd mention it for others interested.
Obsidian and a shared Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive folder?
Obsidian isnt FOSS sadly, but still very good and you own your files
Turtl
I have been using QOwnNotes for about 6 months. It is cross platform, lightweight, extensible and a plain-text markdown note-taking program written in C++/Qt. It can integrate with Nextcloud. Installable via scoop on Window and apt on Debian† (after installing their apt key).
Author is quite responsive on GH issues.
† Also most major Unixes
I've used vim with a smattering of essential plugins for years to do this, and only this year moved to Neovim for the same.
It's not Open Source, but I've also taken a hefty liking to Obsidian's canvas mode. Likewise, I share a small selection of lists with my other half via Google Keep.
Emacs + org-mode + maybe org-roam
Amazing features, can export to a bunch of common formats.
Depends on what method h use for note taking.
If it's not that professionally or for research purposes used then simple note is great.
If it's about research data then obsidian.
Also u will obviously find it difficult to find a good FOSS app for note taking that many of them won't support sync and collaboration.
I came here to recommend Simplenote. Sorry it's not working for you anymore. I've loved it for years.
Oh, I know! Start carrying a pen and a tiny notepad. It's not multi-platform, but it will rarely undelete. /s
Affine.pro has potential but a couple months from cloud.
SiYuan is solid and FOSS (GPL)
I looked into it once but there wasn't anything. I just stuck with Google Keep and it works great for small notes.