A bit of a self promo (I’m the main author), but you may also want to look at SilverBullet as alternative: https://silverbullet.md/
Bit more technical than EverNote. More like Obsidian, but 100% open source and self hosted.
That landing page is pretty clever BTW.
What would you say are the best reasons to prefer your app over obsidian?
It’s an offline capable PWA. So it works on any device that has a modern web browser with having to install anything (on the client). It’s open source software. It’s just different.
I suspected the site was a demo of what the software LOOKED like, then I got to the part where y’all say it’s functional. That’s a REALLY cool way to do an intro!
Do you support MathJax/LaTeX, toggles, and embedding images? If so, I might just switch off of Obsidian.
Latex yes: https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet-katex
Not sure what you mean with toggles.
And embedded images: yes. Just drag and drop or copy and paste them.
Obsidian. Very simple, all functionality is free, offline, all notes are accessible on your PC, you don't even need Obsidian to open them because they are in Markdown. Has tons of community plugins for every need, even a Notion-like tables plugin. There is an android app which looks fine but I don't use it much so I can't say anything about it. But since all your notes are offline you have to think of ways to sync them. There is a paid Obsidian sync which you dont have to use or you can sync with any other method (manually, github, syncthing, etc...)
Edit: Oops, just realized the post is in FOSS community and Obsidian doesn't seem to be open source. Sorry! I'm not going to delete the comment though, maybe it'll help someone
you don't even need Obsidian to open them because they are in Markdown
This is crucial for me. I have existing sets of notes in Markdown and still want to edit in Vim or other editors, but sometimes in Obsidian too.
First off, Notion is vastly superior to Evernote in every way (IMO). They have super streamlined apps for both Android and iOS, and the learning curve is negligible. Fully accessible in any browser, too. Once mastered, Notion is ridiculously powerful, and their free account ridiculously generous.
That being said, I recently discovered Obsidian, and although I have big love for Notion, I don't think I'll be using it anymore.
Obsidian also has apps, both for mobile and (native) desktop (Mac, Win, Linux), ~~is open source~~ (edit: my bad, not open source), and has a thriving plugin community on GitHub.
The learning curve is steeper, and Obsidian is one of those things that's so flexible that it's borderline overwhelming, but if you can wrap your head around how you want to use it, make it suit your needs, it's the absolute bee's knees.
Personally, I use Obsidian on my Mac desktop, and sync my Vaults (basically just a specific folder on your HDD containing your notes (individual markdown.md files) and folders) with Google Drive. I then sync the changes to my Android phone using Autosync for Google Drive, where I use the native Obsidian app, and Google Drive syncs to my Chromebook where I run the Obsidian Linux client.
I can't stress enough how much I love Obsidian, it's truly been one of my top 3 new software revelations in the last 5 years (Raycast and Midjourney being the other two). Highly recommended ❤️
Edit: Sorry, just now noticed this was posted in FOSS, so my suggestions might not be valid. Just thought since you're coming from Evernote, and there are fantastic, free alternatives, you might want to look into those 🙂 Both my recommendations have paid options (Obsidian offers paid sync, but is completely compatible with free alternatives), but both work amazingly without ever opening your wallet.
I use obsidian too! while it's not open source, there's so many community plugins and all your notes are stored on your computer in markdown, so you have complete control over your notes (you aren't locked in to using obsidian). I sync my notes with OneDrive, then I use the OneSync mobile app to get my notes synced onto my phone.
something similar to obsidian is logseq, it's open source but it's more geared towards bullet point notes. I used it a bit and it didn't make sense for me (I was mostly journaling, but it looks very promising if you take notes in a bullet point format!)
Now that I've migrated away from Reddit, I will miss /r/Obsidian. I wonder if there's a Lemmy channel somewhere 🤔
I tried Obsidian, but I'm building a meal planner and a workout planner in Notion and I just can't imagine getting anywhere near this juice for my squeeze from Obsidian. I also live for the consistency between Windows and Android and the simple and clear notifications from my projects, tasks, and calendar on BOTH reliably.
Do I need to give Obsidian a 2nd look? Any resource you recommend for plug-ins or specific plug-ins? Thanks!
I use the Notes app of Nextcloud. It syncs flawlessly between Linux and Android. Of course with your own instance of Nextcloud, hosted or self-hosted, you get sooo much more.
I've heard good things about logsec + Syncthing.
There are several that I've been using / trying out:
I believe all 3 of them have android apps.
After Evernote announced the price hike a month or so ago I started researching alternatives. I looked into a bunch of different apps/services but decided I did not want to get locked into another proprietary system subject to enshittification. So my main criteria were:
Both Joplin and Logseq fit the criteria and were good in my testing when combined with Syncthing to copy files around securely. There are a ton of other options out there but they didn't fit one or more of my wants.
Joplin is a VERY easy transition from Evernote. It can import notes exported from Evernote, has a similar interface, and doesn't take much getting used to.
Logseq is interesting but it's going to take time to get used to its workflow since it's so different. I watched a couple hours worth of videos on its use and it that style may just not be for me.
I went with Syncthing because that means the notes never leave my devices, so there is no need to depend on a server or worry about the security/integrity of the note content. The downside is that syncing outside the house isn't so simple, though it can be nudged to work over a VPN. Not for everyone.
After spending a week or so being happy with Joplin+Syncthing I canceled my Evernote subscription and went back to the free tier, but honestly I haven't even opened it since doing that. I haven't needed anything in it that I couldn't do in Joplin.
I use syncthing + zettlr.
Basically, just sync a folder rather than trying to find the perfect notebook app.
Your experience is what i am looking to accomplish. I'd like to transfer everything Evernote to a self-hosted FOSS application I can serve on my Synology NAS. I would access my notes primarily on my phone (Android) and sometimes Windows. AFIAK, Joplin would sync to my Synology NAS where it's hosted... so I'm a little perturbed by the additional used of Syncthing.
Would someone explain the need/desire for Joplin+Syncthing?
I personally love Logseq. I use syncthing to sync the files but they're implementing their own syncing feature. Works really fantastic and is cross platform.
I second Logseq. FOSS, completely local, stores everything in text - works well with Git, lots of plugins - it's almost perfect
I'm also looking for an alternative to Evernote since they jacked up their prices. My primary use is as a document store for OCR and indexing of scanned paperwork.
For general note taking I'm starting to use Logseq, but I don't think that's the right solution for long term storage, I have over 10 years of scanned documents I want to port across
Paperless-NGX seems to be the best option I found so far, but not installed it yet
I used to use evernote mainly to store OCRed pdfs with some metadata. Moved my workflow over to a self hosted paperless-ngx instance. I'll never go back.
I have used Joplin for a good while. I self hosted a little docker server for sync and off I went. There are paid sync plans available though. Nowadays I'm lazy and use the notes of my Nextcloud instance most of the time.
Thanks! Nextcloud could be a good solution, given that we already have that server running – do they have an app inside or just a text file? I'm not the admin of that cloud, so can't check any extra options personally
There are several apps. There is just plain "Notes", then there is a trello-kanban-style-thing called "Deck" and an app doing more of a fridge-magnet-notes style called "Carnet". All of those have corresponding apps and Deck and Notes use the same CalDAV-Notes, so are interoperable.
I am the worst and just transferred everything to OneNote… it works well for what I use it for…
I actually like OneNote for work purposes. Everything is Microsoft so it works well for what I need it to do. Not sure I would use it outside that context though.
I use emacs with org mode, and the orgzly android app, for my note taking. It fits my needs well enough, though the android app cant do all the fancy latex insertion emacs can.
Since you mentioned ssh and vi(m), I'll throw out vimwiki. No Android app, unless you count termux, and there's a bit of a learning curve, but idk, it really clicks with me.
Joplin or Zim.
I used Zim in the past, it’s a very polished app with a lot of features.
I would say wonderful in terms of capabilities and concept, just OK in terms of UI but highly effective. I guess more then OK in the sense pretty much everything is there and just works. Wish they had an android app. The things I like about it are:
You can have pretty large notes collections and still use and navigate. At least for me though it seems to be limited to 3000 or so notes in a single notebook for speed reasons. That is way higher than I think I could sanely navigate in a normal app like Joplin though because it is a wiki and can be hierarchical too.
I like that it stores as simple files in the file system. Nice format for fairly large notes too. So I can just manipulate stuff there if needed and process stuff with standard Linux commands or with Python. Really helpful when importing stuff for example, or reformatting something.
This is not at all what it’s meant for but I use Element messenger for this purpose. It’s on all my devices, it’s e2ee, it’s shareable if needs be. It’s also a damn fine messenger in its own right.
I have been using Joplin. It is the best free notes app that i have found.
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