Currently I’m using Joplin with Syncthing-backed file system synchronization. I’m pretty pleased with it, as I do like tagging- and Markdown-based systems.
I plan to upgrade to server-based synchronization, but before doing that, however, I wanted to see what other people are using.
Edit: So far I see a slight favor towards Joplin and Logseq, but I totally didn’t expect (and appreciate) getting so many different answers.
I’ve been using Trilium Notes for the better part of two years and love it. I have used Obsidian and similar markdown apps, and I find it frustrating to add images due to the need to store them in a separate folder and reference them instead of just pasting them into the page and being done with it. To me, that’s a barrier for notes when I’m trying to brainstorm. I really do like markdown, but it doesn’t work with my though process.
I have a sync server setup at home (with no outside access) and do my main writing inside my network. For notes on the go I use the Notes app on my iphone (its quick and easy) and then drop the notes into Trilium when I get home.
Obsidian, and there’s also another one that’s not yet self-hostable but planning to, called Notesnook
notepad
I’ve used Joplin and Standard Notes. I do use Standard Notes premium and I much prefer it.
I used logseq for my first semester of university and I can’t see any reason to switch right now.
It handles markdown and KaTeX, so it handles everything I need really, in a fast simple program.
Joplin. Obsidian is not open source, doesn’t have native self hosting and it gets complicated. Joplin is very simple and just works. Although, it stores the notes in a hashed database, so you can’t edit raw files without Joplin client
Problem with Joplin: The raw files are randomly named so you can’t easily find a specific note
That’s not even the bigger problem. I found the desktop ui very clunky. There were too many papercuts for me to keep using joplin. However, its TUI and mobile app are excellent.
Trilium for the same reasons, but the featureset of Trilium is more like Obsidian.
Trillium was originally created to be an open source replacement for Roam Research.Trilium came out in 2017, and had Roam-like features before Roam even existed. It’s similarities to Obsidian are purely coincidental, probably because Obsidian is designed to be a cross between Roam and Evernote.Please, I don’t want to be rude, so don’t take me wrong.
I think that’s not accurate. Trillium is not even an outliner, let alone a block note taking app. I think you’re mixing trillium with Logseq.
My memory may be failing me, but I think trillium has been around longer than Roam Research.
And yes, it’s a great open source note taking app!
I started using Trilium in early 2020, with version 0.40.2. Roam had released in 2019 and was growing in popularity quickly, I heard a lot about Roam, it looked cool, so I googled for an open-source self-hosted knowledge base note taking app with similar features to Roam, like notes arranged in a knowledge graph, and a backlinks explorer for each note. The only one that was available then was trilium. Looks like you’re right, the development of trilium was started in 2017, before Roam existed. This is a great interview with the creator, answers a lot of the questions I had. https://console.substack.com/p/console-169
Obsidian didn’t come out until a few months later (and remained under the radar until 2021), all my colleagues and friends use Obsidian now, but I prefer trilium. I had never heard of logseq before I read this thread. Just a quick glance, I see the first 0.1.0 version logseq was in April 2021, just before the first obsidian release.
Good call on Obsidian not being FOSS! I don’t know that.
Historically I’ve been using Google keep or one note (I’m a monster I know). I’ve been trying to see if I can migrate over to Nextcloud notes as I slowly de-FAANG my life.
Yeah, I’m still stuck on Google Keep, since it’s the only one that’s integrated with the (even worse) Google home
The convenience of saying, “Hey Google, add milk to my shopping list”, and having that list shared with my wife, is too great. Long term goals would be to find a self-hosted alternative but right now that’s where I am.
That being said I am trying to diversify as and pull in house what I can and notes is one of the things I’ve been experimenting with.
I find it interesting that every product from Google/MS/Apple/etc is inherently evil in implications from our community.
I don’t mind OneNote, and like that it syncs to everything I use. I guess I’ve done IT/Infosec for 20+ years, so I don’t hate everything MS does, just some things :)
Yeah, my “monster” comment was sarcasm. I’m in the same boat. I’ve been in IT for just as long and most places are Microsoft shops, with a little linux sprinkled in for flavor. I refuse to engage in the holy war. Msft, esp these days, makes decent tools and you can pry PowerShell from my cold dead hands. We use o365 at work and honestly OneNote is a solid product and does the job well.
For my personal life my note taking requirements are pretty basic and keep/onenote/etc… fits the bill. Esp since I share notes with my wife. But I’m a tinkerer at heart and I’d like to take more control of my services/data, so I’m experimenting with how much I can pull in without making my life overly and unnecessarily complicated.
Trilium. Tried a bunch but fell in love with this one. Others either didn’t have support for inline math or weren’t wysiwyg (Joplin). Also easy syncing between computers with its own server in docker, and it even doubles as a web version of the app.
I’ve stuck with Joplin for a while. Self hosting the sync server so it’s all saved privately.
I use silverbullet, it is great for tasks and notes! https://silverbullet.md/ - the manual itself uses it, so it is both a manual and a demo page
Markor + synvthing
Joplin uses it’s own database so interoperability is not perfect. Markor is so effing cool. That’s on Android. On the laptop I use want ever is best suited for the task. Most often, a vim variant of notepad++
I like memos.
+1 for memos. I use MoeMenos on android. I don’t need too many features in a memos app so it’s perfect for me
I use Memos, but I didn’t like the MoeMemos app when I tried it. Text to small and horrible theme. I installed a shortcut to the Web client and it works great. I usually want dedicated mobile apps for the stuff I use, but Memos is so simple, I don’t think a mobile app is needed.
Zim.
orgmode with neovim on PC and orgzly on phone. syncing with syncthing
Edit: I’m actually using orgzly revived, a community maintained version of orgzly, since orgzly is no longer mantained
For anyone who is interested in note taking in your everyday editor like vim or emacs, orgmode is an emacs tool (in neovim there is a clone plugin) for note taking, todos, agendas, etc. It uses a format similar to markdown, and a good part is that with the orgzly app you receive notifications for your events. So basically you can use orgmode as a calendar as well (I do!).
Hedgedoc and Nextcloud Notes
