Selfhosted alternative to google keep/onenote/evernote/goodnotes?
Selfhosted alternative to google keep/onenote/evernote/goodnotes?
I'm completely new to selfhosting but see a lot of potential. I wonder if anyone knows a good way to self host a notetaking app? The point is that I need to access my notes on multiple devices so self hosting them could be a nice idea. I currently use google keep and goodnotes but would like to leave those behind...
I'm just using a self hosted git repo with markdown files. I was having trouble finding something open source that I could edit with vim that also had a good mobile solution. I also didn't want to get locked into a file format that was specific to an app.
Markdown is ubiquitous and I use git all the time as a developer so it was easier to tack something onto an existing workflow. It's a little janky but at least I won't be screwed by devs abandoning whatever app I was using.
I use Joplin on top of Nextcloud.
You can browse the collection on OpenAlternative here: https://openalternative.co/categories/notetaking
Thanks a lot!
Quillpad is the closest I've found. It's simple markdown files. It can sync with Nextcloud as well. I use it for any short note or lists. Long form stuff including journal, I use Obsidian (not open source)
It really does have that same look that Google Keep has! Thanks for recommending, I will try this! Do you have experience with syncing Quillpad with Nextcloud?
Yes. I have a Pi4 running NextcloudPi image on it. I sync docs, pics, even backup my Obsidian vault. It's worked really well for Quillpad in my experience. On desktop I use Iotas (Linux) if I need to update from that instead of my phone.
I use Joplin, no complaints.
Nextcloud is a really good all-in-one solution for self hosting data
Results from me asking this 1Y ago: https://lemm.ee/post/4593760
Went with Joplin and using it since.
Welcome to the rabbit hole of selfhosted note-taking apps. https://selfh.st/apps/?tag=Note-Taking
Unfortunately, this is going to be a bit of a journey. You'll probably end up going through a few of these options until you find one that works for you and fits your workflow.
I use nextcloud notes because I already have nextcloud and my needs are not that sophisticated
I'm going to try this out. I hesitated because I was considering switching to Owncloud Infinite Scale, but I'm not going to bother because I decided the file structure OCIS uses is a deal-breaker (way too complex to recover in a disaster).
I've used Joplin before which was okay-ish (but borked the e2e encryption during an update).
Now I would recommend Silverbullet if you are really keen on self hosting a notes app.
But the notes that work best for me is simply Obsidian + Syncthing-Fork (you could self host a syncthing server), thanks to its sheer ability to adapt to nearly any use case thanks to its plugin.
If you go this route, OP, and have an Android phone, then you should know the (very sad and disappointing) news that SyncThing for Android is about to be shut down.
But Syncthing Fork is not shut down and is still maintained (never used the main version tbh).
https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android-fdroid
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncthingandroid/
What was wrong with Joplin? I was thinking about giving it a try.
Not the OP, but I believe they're talking about the upgrade from 128 bit AES to 256 bit AES. It created some compatibility issues between clients for a few days as the ones that weren't updated yet couldn't decrypt the newer 256 AES encrypted notes. That was my experience anyways. It's a great app/server from my personal experience.
I also tried Joplin and while it's great while using it, there's no background sync and never will be. That's a huge pain when you're mobile and need to get at your notes but have little or no signal.
My solution is basically what @mojolobo mentions with Nextcloud behind it and I love the concept. Because Obsidian (via a WebDAV plugin on the phone) just syncs with the "Notes" folder in my Nextcloud root it really is just a bunch of .md (markdown) files. It gives me an added sense of security (on top of the self-hosting aspect) because I can see those files everywhere I have Nextcloud installed, I can edit them manually if I wanted to. On the PC you just point the Obsidian app to the folder, on phones you do it via a WebDAV plugin.
Obsidian is pretty neat. Can use it with Syncthing, although I guess you need Syncthing-Fork on Android now.
After trying a bunch, I'm using Obsidian + <your choice of sync plugin> now. Good thing with Obsidian is your notes are ultimately a bunch of plaintext files, so you can do whatever you want with them, and it comes with clients for most platforms.
Another option is Trilium, it is pretty powerful, and has a webapp so as long as you can access a browser, you'll be able to access your notes. https://github.com/zadam/trilium
Been using Logseq since February and it's been a game changer. My only gripes are a) inability to access via browsers, and b) lack of a quick note function. Sometimes I still use Keep to jot something down and transfer later. Logseq spends a solid 5+ seconds syncing upon opening, which can feel like an eternity when trying to quickly log something.
For browser, there is a webapp that can be selfhosted. See here https://github.com/logseq/logseq/blob/master/docs/docker-web-app-guide.md
I think you need chromium browsers due to the API they use, but it should work.
+1 for the open source option: Trilium The project is being maintained here: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Notes
I use Memos and love it.
I connect to it from my desktop at home and from my phone via a WireGuard VPN and it's everything I need. Worth a look, I think.
Memos fits a wide variety of uses and is the first note system that has clicked for me. I use it for quick notes so I don't forget things, journal-like entries, save for later (like Pocket), shopping lists and other todos.
Looks great! Does it have handwriting support?
I don't see anything about that on their site.
Yeah Memos is great. I use it as a personal journal. It supports great features like Postgres database, tags, filters, S3 for assets, SSO with OIDC. Dev works on more features like referencing notes if I read correctly
Only downside for me is, pictures are always at the end of a note, not inline like in wikis
Probably Joplin is the easiest to use. Looks like OneNote but it's different in many ways.
I've been getting on well with notesnook, the self hosting is in beta right now but its just a docker container. Docs are coming for self hosting in the near future.
The criteria for me when I was looking for a notes app were:
- self hosted
- e2e encrypted
- supports images and other rich media as well as text
- can use markdown for text formatting
- supports mobile as well as some desktop interface
- can make lists with checkable boxes
- background sync
Notesnook hits all of these. I wish it had a dedicated desktop app but that's something I can just use a browser window for.
Notesnook has a desktop app. Does it not work with self hosted implementation?
You're right! I missed it somehow
I'd vote for anytype or obsidian
Anytype has a learning curve, But it has built-in encryption and IPFS syncing provided by the company. The templating system is really slick and the relational aspect is pretty solid.
Obsidian + syncthing fork is a really solid contender. It's much easier to work with out of the box but the features are a little more generic.
Neither of these are really self-hosted, so much as they are contained in their own ecosystem. You get some measure of higher availability that you have to really work for if you're really self-hosting a product.
Hm at some point Anytime apps will be configurable for custom servers tho (i assumed they were already but i might have been wrong).
Obsidian also has some interesting sync plugins that dont require syncthing
The crypto is decent, it's electron so it's source available. If you want to ignore their hosting solution, you can disable the syncing and just take the vault from its config directory and sync it yourself
The real downsides are that it's not actual open source, so if they decided to screw around with the security or turn the crypto off somebody can't just fork it.
Trilium. You'll be
glassglad you tried it.Trilium is an excellent option, however, the original project is no longer maintained. There is a new community fork that is active here: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Notes
Good point.
I use https://silverbullet.md and love it, it's a bit more than a note taking app, but it's definitely worth it.
I setup nextcloud and just use that to backup my Obsidian notes. But I also use next cloud deck depending on the type of notes or list I'm making
Nextcloud has a Notes app too
This is what I use
Obsidian but with syncthing here, just syncs the files across my devices.
It's still in alpha but hoarder is promising
It's designed to organize bookmarks, but can also support markdown notes with picture (a single picture, not multiple pictures)
Unfortunately at the moment the mobile app is so alpha that doesn't support creation or editing such notes, only new bookmarks or new photos.
It uses a headless chromium to make screenshots for URLs.
Optionally, can use a bullshit generator like ollama or openai api keys to automatically create a lot of useless tags to each note
Appflowy if Notion appels you. It is not 1.0 yet so some features you need might not be there.
I use radicals for CalDAV and save notes there together with my calendars. On Android there is jtx Board which let's you work with them. Sadly on Linux I couldn't find anything so I started writing something myself but don't have much time to work on it https://github.com/jeena/JNotes