1y ago

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.

89 comments

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 sync~~ edit: see below comment by @fossisfun@lemmy.ml 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
  
  Thanks!
  
  There will be many conversion tools for Joplin to other structures. So I guess the format is a non issue.
- There's also plenty of FOSS obsidianlikes. Logseq looks promising, but I'm sticking with Obsidian because I rely a lot on some of the extensions.
  Either way, migrating is as easy as opening the same folder in one app or the other, so you might as well try.
  
  I didn't know about Logseq! Looks really interesting and since there's a Flatpak available, I'll give it a try. Thanks for mentioning it!
- 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

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
- Obsidian is not open source

Logseq good alternative to obsidian Use syncthink or save the files to drive for syncing

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!

Here's a few I've been trying lately,
Anytype.io
Standard Notes
Trillium
Notesnook
Logseq
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:
  While our core solutions, the infrastructure protocol any-sync, and the data protocol any-block, are released as open source under the permissive MIT license, we distribute the remaining layers, including the middleware library any-heart, and applications like anytype-js, anytype-swift, and anytype-kotlin, under the Any Source Available License. This license grants individuals the freedom to review, modify, and utilize the code for personal, academic, scientific, research, and development purposes. However, for commercial use, consent from the Any Association is required.
  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 think by now all their components are oss. At least they released their storage server recently.
  
  I forgot about that part 😅

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
- @Minty95 @OrkneyKomodo same here
  
  @Minty95 @OrkneyKomodo syncing to nextcloud instead of dropbox though
- 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

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!)

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 .md files 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.
  
  Unfortunately not FOSS
  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.

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.

Agree about Joplin. No need for a full NextCloud instance, I use the WebDAV option which Apache has pretty much out of the box.

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.

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?

I've been using silverbullet.md but it's self hosted

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I use Trilium

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.

@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

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.

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'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.

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.

I use Joplin synced over Nextcloud.
Standard Notes is pretty good too

Turtl

Obsidian and a shared Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive folder?
- Obsidian isnt FOSS sadly, but still very good and you own your files

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.

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

Emacs + org-mode + maybe org-roam
Amazing features, can export to a bunch of common formats.

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

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.

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.

89 comments

TiddlyWiki — a non-linear personal web notebook