Yes, I know that the are dozens of notes apps. I’m looking for recommendations based on a few features that I like:
- nice design (including color coding)
- easy checklists
- sharing - this one is key. I use a shared shopping list and we both need to add and edit.
- pinning and archiving (hidden notes)
I don’t mind running it from my homelab server, but that is not a requirement. Does anyone use a notes app that you love? Let me know!
Orgzly
This
Obsidian is amazing, though it isn’t FOSS but your notes are saved in Markdown, so even if something happens with the app, they will remain yours.
Another alternative may be Joplin and AnyType, but I think AnyType is also not 100% FOSS.
Logseq
Carnet on Nextcloud is currently the “closest” I’ve found but it needs a ton of TLC. Sharing notes currently only works on the dev build. I keep telling myself I’ll fix it but can’t find the time. If anyone wants some open source contributions the maintainer has asked for help
if you’re comparing note apps and don’t want to try them all one by one like i did, somebody apparently tried them all and wrote reviews ☞https://www.noteapps.ca
How about LogSeq ?
Basically unmaintained at this point until they release the DB version “some day”. And you’re delusional if you think they can maintain both versions at the same time. They can’t even update the current production version that they already have without focusing all their efforts on a new app that hasn’t been released yet.
Am I crazy? I’m seeing a github page with commits from 6 days ago. When you unmaintained what do you mean, like no new features?
Almost all of those are for the database release, not the production release.
Even if they are for the current production release was last April. Considering the buggy mess their product is, that’s kind of unacceptable for an app that is supposed to hold your entire lifes data.
They’re adding a database to back it?
That’s off putting, I liked its simplicity, and it’s being open source.
https://discuss.logseq.com/t/why-the-database-version-and-how-its-going/26744
I get it. And I don’t necessarily disagree with them, but it gives me concerns over the long term viability of the project. If obsidian did blocks the same way logseq did I’d probably jump ship and use that, but you can’t really brain dump in obsidian the same way you can in logseq.
Same page as you. I found Obsidian but deferred to Logseq instead for two reasons:
- Open source
- The block editor
But seeing this post reaffirms I should find an alternative. They want collaborative features, etc. That roadmap is very different from what I was wanting out of a “second brain”.
I have already been considering switching back to Obsidian and pairing it with Quartz for publishing.
AnyType seemed close as well, but it has a ton of features I wouldn’t use and it’s not clear to me how I could generate a website from it.
For note apps I can recommend:
I also found a fork called NotallyX, which includes import functions from Keep and Evernote. Pretty useful for someone migrating.
- amount of backups to keep
also is a nice addition but i like the fact that notally is just 1.9mb. So i keep using notally and delete a dozen backups from time to time :/
yeah, just looking through the notes, it looks like both devs care a lot about their project and just have different visions for what a “Complete” notes app should look like. It’s nice to see, because sometimes when you see a fork of a project it’s because someone abandoned it or there is some kind of community drama, but that doesn’t seem to be the case afaik.
- sharing - this one is key. I use a shared shopping list and we both need to add and edit.
i use and love notally but you can’t share/sync (export/import wouldn’t satisfy the above requirement)
I was using Joplin for a while… Self hosted their server. On two occasions it screwed up on me and wouldn’t load my folders… Luckily I had backups but it was still frustrating. I don’t recommend them purely because the notes are stored in a custom format instead of just plain text files.
My favorite way of doing notes now is with git, currently using a free private repo on gitlab.
Just clone the repo on whatever PC I need them and it has backups and version control.
Then use GitJournal on my phone.
It’s perfect for me. I love it.
Nice, I’ve been doing something similar, using the obsidian-git plug-in for Obsidian and the Working Copy app on iOS.
Obsidian is my front-end, and it saves the notes in markdown files in a git-synced folder on my computer.
The plug-in pushes and pulls automatically, and Working Copy does the same thing on iOS, just before opening the Obsidian app on iOS.
Joplin is my pick.
“I WANT ALL THE CLOUD THINGS RIGHT NOW FOR FREE AND I REFUSE TO COMPROMISE 🦶🦶🦶🦶”
That’s what these requests read like.
Look, these people have a product with a good UI and sharing for a reason. Anything else you find that doesn’t hit that mark is because of that. Make concessions for what you really need, build your own, or continue stomping around about it.
I pay for all of the software that I use, and encourage others to do so as well. That’s not what this is at all. Pretty much the opposite effect.
And yet you are not OP
I paid for Evernote for years, got a double helping of enshitification.
I pay for Google Workspace. They will Play eventually sunset keep even though I pay for their services because that’s just what they do.
If you don’t host it yourself, they can and will take it away from you.
Yes. Yes. And Yes!
You might like Blinko. It seems similar to Keep to me. I set it up for awhile, but it didn’t give me anything beyond what I already have with Joplin, so couldn’t justify keeping it or transitioning to it. Here’s a video from DB Tech on the set up process: Self-host Blinko with docker
Wow, this has some neat features and it looks great on any size screen. I will be following this for sure
sharing - this one is key. I use a shared shopping list and we both need to add and edit.
Get jotting with your friends in seconds: https://pad.disroot.org/
https://github.com/usememos/memos
This has all of that.
Wow, this looks amazing. I’ll have to check it out to see how sharing/collaboration works though.
They make an account on your hosted service. Notes can be set private or public or workspace.
Log in with the default there.
Critically you can’t share to specific accounts, it’s private, completely public or all registered users. Also, sharing is read-only, no collaboration allowed. So sharing sort of yes, but no collaboration say on a shopping list.
Two users can collaborate on a workspace note.
Seems that in the latest prerelease builds that is indeed true, even checkboxes work now.
Anyone know of any that integrate with Google assistant? Such that I can use my voice to add items to a list? Currently using keep due to this
Oh, that is a really interesting question. I do think that there are some open source assistants that may offer some flexibility, but that’s not really how I personally use a phone so I wouldn’t have any answer. I found this article from a few years ago that seems to suggest it was and may be possible.
I just use NextCloud Notes. Categories are just sub folders, so you can create a Shared category and just share it in Nextcloud.
I wish the web interface let you sort the sub categories both ways. I have a series of subcategories of Year/month that I’m using as a journal and the longer I keep writing, the further have to scroll down :/
This is a very cool project! With a few minor developments this could meet my needs
Upvotes because the devs are good. Sharing does not work well if at all though.
Fossify Notes is quiet good for note taking and quick check-lists.
No sync or share though, right?
