1y ago

What’s the best note-taking app currently out there?

Looking for a note-taking app, preferably that I could use straight from a browser. I’m currently using Standard Notes. Not sure if that one is any good, but E2EE and open-source which at least checks those boxes. I don’t store anything too sensitive and I don’t need a whole bunch of features, though I suppose I’d use them if they were available.

I’m honestly not too picky but maybe discussion here could help someone else out who may be looking for the same thing with higher expectations? I’ll switch over to a better option if there’s something considerably better.

Thanks in advance

55 comments

I kind of love note taking apps so I can rundown a few:
Logseq (FOSS, can technically run in a browser but it’s very limited and literally called “demo”)
Obsidian (not FOSS but local md first, very mature and a huge community)
Joplin (FOSS and probably general go-to for cross-platform open source notes in general but is a bit of a memory hog)
StandardNotes (you already described this one)
notesnook (very new offering probably most similar to SN but I don’t know)
AnyType (also very new and striving for more of a Notion-like experience but I think still needs time to mature)
I use Logseq most often, although I prefer Joplin on mobile. Obsidian and Logseq are more “personal knowledge management” and may be overkill for simple note-taking, plus I feel they are a little bloated on mobile. Honestly not sure which ones work in a browser, but I agree that’s a feature I’d like more of. All of these though I believe are cross-platform so should be usable on mobile or desktop.
- Joplin (FOSS and probably general go-to for cross-platform open source notes in general but is a bit of a memory hog)
  This comment describes my frustration with modern software.
  How could a note taking app be a memory hog? You could type out a whole War and Piece and it shouldn't take more than couple megabytes to store it.
  
  Agree, my guess is the electron wrapper. Easy way to go multi platform but comes with its own iceberg size cargo. Happy Joplin user tho
- I just started using Joplin and I’m quite liking it so far. Opening the task manager on my pc and I can definitely see it likes to use up memory, but hopefully that won’t be much of an issue. It takes a few moments to synchronize but that’s alright. It has more features than the free version of Standard Notes, but SN feels a bit smoother if that makes sense. Still not sure which I prefer quite yet but we’ll see
  
  Hope you find something that works! I do enjoy that Joplin is not paywalled in anyway, and is still super robust, private, and local first. I personally hop around between several note taking apps based on my needs so finding apps that are local md first is high priority for me so that if I move to another app all of my notes can move with me.
  Joplin stores notes in a database rather than directly as Markdown, but they can easily be exported as Markdown which I guess is the next best thing.
- Do you find that the mobile Logseq app takes ages to open, or is my phone just too old? I really want to like Logseq, but it wasn't snappy enough.
  
  I have a fairly old iPhone and I never have much of an issue with speed, so maybe?
  My main issues with Logseq on mobile is that a) there’s no plug-in support which makes my workflow much more difficult and b) I find the UI as just a copy of the desktop UI without many mobile-specific features usable but not super intuitive. If I need to jot down a quick note or TODO on the go I don’t think it’s best. I keep the app mainly to reference longer notes on the go.

I personally use Notesnook. It's E2E, Open Soure and Cross Platform.

I've used Joplin for a while and it's solid.
- I second Joplin. I’ve also used it for a while and I find it easy to use and flexible.
- What do you use for synchronization? Or do you only store everything locally?
  
  For me I'm syncing to my Nextcloud instance that's running on my raspberry pi
  
  I sync through OneDrive. I like that Joplin encrypts on-device so I don't have to worry about the privacy policy of the cloud I'm syncing though.
- I also use Joplin, I self host Joplin server for the sync, with e2ee enabled. It’s been rock solid for me.
  
  Oh that's cool. Didn't know you could self-host the server. I'll have to check that out.

Obsidian here.
- I think obsidian isn't open source.
  
  Ah, my bad. I missed the 'open-source' requirement. But yes, I mostly use it because it's all markdown so I can use it with whatever.
  
  Not open source, but all files are local and are only markdown files, so no lock in.

idk maybe notesnook?
- Just checked it out, seems solid. I’m going to use a few for a bit and see which I like best, but that one seems to be a pretty good choice. Thanks for the recommendation

This video is pretty funny and gives some good ones
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://piped.video/XRpHIa-2XCE?si=rnoh5dmcCtsAzUuG
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

I enjoy notesnook. Free, Foss, e2ee, with cloud sync. Available on izzyondroid and fdroid.

Notesnook for sure. I really disliked Joplin. Particularly the Android app. Just really poorly designed.
Acreom promise but it's new enough they don't have E2EE or even local only on mobile. Both are on the road map. Dev seems engaged and cool though.
Edit: I didn't see the open source req, acreom isn't. But it's still a cool app. And I'd they can get local only on mobile, then you can sync however you want as it's just flat Markdown, similar to Obsidian.
- I think they are planning to open-source in their roadmap
  
  Right you are! That's great. It has the potential to be a real contender in this category once those features are in place.

I use Org Mode and Org Roam in Doom Emacs.

I've been enjoying "Anytype"

You're putting yourself in a tough position by asking for both E2EE and the ability to use from a browser. You have to trust the web app each time you open the page, and hope that they haven't altered the deal to simply grab your data after it's been decrypted by your password. I have no idea how likely it is that Standard Notes would do that but I'd reconsider the browser requirement specifically if E2EE is non-negotiable for you - an offline open source client program would be a much stronger position.
For my money, I use local text files and SyncThing but it's probably not spiffy enough for many people/purposes.
- Fair enough. I’m fairly new to caring about my online privacy so I’m still learning. Browser was more of just a preference since I don’t like having an app for everything I use, but if that’s the better way to go for something like this then that’s fine. I like the idea of everything stored locally, but at the same time I like the convenience of having access on my pc and phone. And as I said I don’t store anything secure in notes. If I did need something secure in notes I could use Bitwarden for that I suppose. I appreciate your reply, it’s how folks like me learn. Thank you for your time writing it out

Maybe https://dillinger.io/ as a self-hosted raspberrypi docker instance? And instead of saving to public cloud services just export the markdown file as local pdf.
On mobile I can't just find pdf export button like on desktop.

not e2ee but I use Nextcloud Notes

Joplin is great an encrypts everything (if you want). You can host the synced notes yourself and you can install a web frontend if you're into such a thing. I use it on mobile, windows and Linux where it works great

Standard notes seemed fine for a non syncing app. I think it's the syncing features everyone has issues with.
- I haven’t had issues with the sync yet. I would’ve thought it would be the limited features of the free version that people didn’t like. Maybe I haven’t used it enough to deal with syncing issues yet?

If you have the time to learn emacs, its really good for note taking. I don't think any app other than Vim could compete in taking notes in my math class.
- Surely the support for LaTeX is the killer feature with your math class, not emacs vs. vim.
  
  Well yeah, but I'm using it in emacs org mode, which is nicer to write than straight up LaTeX. I used to use markdown on vim (which can embed LaTeX if you use pandoc to convert to pdf) but org mode is better.
  God mode keybinds and yasnippets makes it comfortable to type.
- I've attempted to use emacs with orgmode, but have no programming background. I wanted to go for a vanilla emacs experience that I can add modules to, but have hit a wall. My dream is to replace Vscodium which I use for markdown notes with syncthing and also to manage my NixOS git config files (magit?). It's probably just time and research, but I wish I could simplify the process a bit. I always seem to destroy the documents I'm attempting to work in and get lost in the emac buffers. Just ranting to see if anyone has any tips or suggestions.
  
  I created my emacs config by going through the awesome-emacs github page and adding any packages that looked useful. If you can't find your buffers, you should do m-x ibuffer and then hit s m to sort buffers by mode, and then you can see all the buffers that are open. Centaur tabs mode is also nice because it adds tabs.
  Adding packages using use-package makes it easier to remember what stuff you added and makes your config more portable. I just got used to emacs by using it with the default keybinds and a minimal amount of packages to understand how it works.
  Alternatively if you know how to use vim, theres an apparently pretty good org mode package for it.

Simplenotes works in a browser, plus there is an app for mobile.

I am searching for the note taking app with the same criteria and right now i am using Cryptee (browser based, no app) and trying to like Joplin. Sometimes Cryptee is slow at startup, but has web app, encrypted, is simple to use and has 2fa. Joplin is fast, supports cloud storage of your choice, but has awful sync issue. When you have some notes uploaded and synced and decide to reinstall the app in your phone and sync it again, your notes will be lost.

I use rhodia, usually with sailor, as for me it is most private

I recently started to directly use KeePassDX even for notes (since I sync it with syncthing) and I must say it's very good.
- lol

SiYuan (GPL) is probably the most advanced. You can get it off github. I haven't found anything that compares in terms of notes based features. Appflowy and Affine also are open source and have good note taking capabilities.

55 comments