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  • I've tried 'em all. And I am always on the lookout for new apps that can do what I want. So far, Obsidian is the best.

    • Joplin: adds meta data to your text files making it nearly impossible to find anything outside of Joplin unless you export
    • Logseq: the closest substitute to Obsidian. The android app is almost unusable in my testing. And it's an outlined based note app, so it requires a different mindset
    • Silverbullet: such a neat project. The PWA runs great on every device I've tried it on. That said, I find it hard to navigate and will require more learning to take full advantage of its features
    • Nextcloud Notes: decent if you already have an instance running. Not worth it just for Notes though. It's very spartan, feature-wise
    • Quillpad: the closest Google Keep alternative I've found so far. Does require Nextcloud insurance to sync though. At least currently.
    • Acreom: very cool project. Similar to Obsidian and Logseq. Local first.....unless you're on mobile, then you are required to have an account and use their sync.
    • Notesnook: has great features but does not store the notes on plain text (due to encryption), which is a deal breaker for my use case
    • Memos: very easy to selfhost. Think of it like a personal twitter feed. Stores entries in a db file, so it's out for me

    I tested others, and many didnt last long enough in my testing to even be worth writing about. I find Obsidian's folder hierarchy easier to fit around how my brain works. And the plain text files in folders, maintaining the hierarchy, is a killer feature for me. Lots of folks self host a sync solution. And I want to but am currently paying for their basic sync plan of $5/mo.

  • It depends on the notes, for me:

    I've had an oddly long-running obsession with Tiddlywiki!

    It has a bit of a learning curve, but it's VERY flexible. My favorite part being that by default it's just a single, portable, HTML file. No special app required besides a browser, no accounts, and you can just sync it like any other file. (Syncthing, Nextcloud, and friends)

    There's also an app called Tiddloid for Android to make managing and saving a little easier, but they open in any browser.

    I have a Tiddlywiki that I use like one might use Obsidian, where I just stash stuff I'll want to remember and maybe link between similar ideas.

    And then I'm currently trying to use it to make a solution to sketch out my Savage Worlds RPG campaigns. It gets a little tricky but you can make templates, script buttons, and that kind of thing. If you're already comfortable with web stuff you'll probably catch on WAY better than I have.

    You can also host it as a website, or on your server or whatever, to use it like any other wiki. There's also plugins to use Markdown instead of "wikitext."

    There's also an excellent guide to learning it at https://groktiddlywiki.com/read/ . It's basically an online workbook using Tiddlywiki itself!

    The community is also super helpful. I do wish it had a little more out of the box, but something about a customizable, portable, digital "notebook" that doesn't require an account or hopefully-supported-in-5-years application is SUPER appealing to me. It's quite underrated.

    Also just for fun I wanted to share my favorite example someone's been working on for quite some time now, a heavily customized D&D wiki

    https://intrinsical.github.io/wiki/index.html

    Tiddlywiki can be a bit dense and the documentation is slowly improving, but there's so much potential!

  • TXT files I sync with syncthing.

    Use amaze file manager built in txt editor on android and vim on desktop.

  • Obsidian with synchronization to my Nextcloud instance

  • Recently discovered KleverNotes by KDE, while only a desktop app it's really really nice! It's dead simple and straight to the point markdown editor. Recommend folks to check it out.

    • Mobile: Nextcloud Notes
    • Desktop: Qownnotes or vim
    • Server: Nextcloud (+Qownnotes addon)

    Much better solution than Joplin, no database or cryptic file names, just plain markdown files on every device you can imagine. Simple and future proof.

  • I really want a FOSS solution for my notetaking, but I feel like I want too much. I love how well OneNote works with my Surface in terms of drawing notes, but I also love writing notes in Markdown and graph structure. I've at least been trying out Dendron for the latter, and it's been alright.

  • Org-mode in emacs.

    There are various mobile clients.

    If you have something to synch files, it's just syncing org files. Probably mostly interesting to people who use a lot of emacs on a PC, though.

  • I use Joplin for day-to-day: to-dos, journals etc. I like Joplin, but I haven't tried the others. I tend to be sticky with services, if something "works" I don't go looking for better. Only when I have a specific problem I can't solve do I branch out.

    I use bookstack for documentation on the server, faqs guides, updates etc. perhaps that works for others. The lack of android app is what moved me to Joplin.

  • I've used Joplin for years. IDK why people have a hate on for it, it's fine.

85 comments