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.
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Logseq, it’s a lot like Obsidian as it also has knowledge graphs, tags, is markdown-based and self-hostable but, in contrast to Obsidian, it’s fully open source
Much prefer Logseq as well.
Checking out Logseq now. I switched to Obsidian a few months ago and have been really liking it. Was time to switch it up from org-mode after YEARS of using it
Logseq user here too.
However, for a quick, transitory note, I use Kate or, more recently, Xpad. Only then I transcribe the content to Logseq. Why?
Because while Logseq is great as an outliner and for network thinking, it’s as graceful and agile as an elephant.
The gist of what I’m saying is: for now, and for me (hardware might be playing a role here, but I don’t think so) Logseq is a good note database. For quick typing, I have to use something else.
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
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. It’s similarities to Obsidian are purely coincidental, probably because Obsidian is designed to be a cross between Roam and Evernote.
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.
Joplin as well, syching my 3 devices with the WebDAV option. I checked a few other options about a year ago and Joplin seemed the best.
Joplin is where I landed, as well as hosting my own Joplin Server.
If Obsidian allowed a free self hosted option, I would have picked it over Joplin. (Yes, I tried the free plugin, but it at times wouldn’t sync correctly and I would end up losing notes.)
Unsaved n++ tabs
It automatically restoring all those unsaved notes has made me so lazy.
There’s dozens of us
Logseq
I’ve stuck with Joplin for a while. Self hosting the sync server so it’s all saved privately.
Logseq.
I used Joplin in the past, but just didn’t quite get completely comfortable with it.
I also tried Nextcloud in the past… that project has become too big for my needs and the file syncing had issues.
Logseq is very similar to Joplin (ie markdown files), but IMHO the editor is easier with Logseq, plus the files are just simple plaintext files, named after the page title, so are easy to edit outside of the application (and immediately update in the app)
At first, I was a little unsure of Logseq’s default of working as a daily journal, but after a while it makes more sense for me - I use it at work, so 99.9% of my notes are meetings, tasks that occur during daily life… and of course those daily journals can refer to other “non-time based” project pages…
I also use syncthing to sync the notes between android phone, linux and Windows laptops and my NAS… so that wouldn’t change for you.
Emacs with org mode. It has so many feature hooked into so many other things such as time management, calendar, email, jupyter. Hard to switch.
Markor on Android and Obsidian on Desktop.
All synced with syncthing
A nice grid lined notebook and a mechanical pencil is still my favorite.
I like to use Google Keep for certain things, but I have a hard time explaining how thise things are better for Google Keep.
I’m looking at giving Neorg a try.
A nice grid lined notebook and a mechanical pencil is still my favorite.
If only my default font wasn’t so bad that it causes data loss.
QOwnNotes (had to look up the exact name as it’s the stupidest app name ever). but compared to joplin it’s lighter, faster, simpler (no database but individual .md files and folders) and works well enough with syncthing.
I’ve been running the Joplin server for over a year with clients on four laptops and three phones and share notes with my wife and its wonderful. There are certainly quirks and sometimes sync issues but by and large I’m really happy with it. There seems to be one cluster of notes I have that always irritates a fresh client sync and it shows up at 50 conflicts but I work through it. Also my notebooks are huge and the first sync can take an hour. It’s a lot slower than I’d expect.
Notepad
On Paper not the computer
i heard about this a while back. unparallelled support for syntax, doesnt rely on a cloud service, incredible backwards-compatibility, and quick start-up time
Logseq
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
