Rebel Tech AllianceNotes alternatives
Alternatives to: OneNote, EverNote
Notes apps are a great way of recording and organising everyday stuff. You can build up a personal knowledge system.
And because it's personal, all the more reason to keep that information away from Big Tech.
| App name | Open Source | Structure; Business model | Features | Country of origin | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.png) Obsidian |
Mostly | Private company; Freemium | E2EE (Encrypted); Excellent apps; Great markdown notebook; Writes to local .md files | Canada | Obsidian.com |
.png) Standard Notes |
Yes | Private company; Freemium | E2EE (Encrypted); Lots of note types incl. markdown and spreadsheet | USA | StandardNotes.com |
.png) Joplin |
Yes | Free Open Source; Donations | Good features; Regular updates | UK / Open Source | Joplinapp.org |
.png) Notesnook |
Yes | Private company; Freemium | E2EE | Pakistan | Notesnook.com |
.png) Helix Notes |
Yes | Free Open Source | Local markdown notes like Obsidian but includes features that Obsidian requires plugins for; No account - sync your notes between devices using e.g. Syncthing or WebDAV; Import from Obsidian feature; Can self host | Open Source | HelixNotes.com |
.png) Poznote |
Yes | Free Open Source | Local markdown notes like Obsidian plus other note formats; Use with no account and sync notes yourself, or pay €2/month for hosted vsn (but uses Google login); Kanban view; Multi-user | Open Source | Poznote.com |
.png) anytype |
Yes | Association (social enterprise company); Freemium | Combination of Notion, Google Docs, Trello, Obsidian and Standard Notes features; Many object types incl. Kanban; local on-device encryption | Switzerland | Anytype.io |
.png) Capacities |
No | Private company; Freemium | Notion alternative | Germany | Capacities.io |
.png) Tana |
No | Private company; Freemium | Notion alternative | USA | Tana.inc |
.jpg) Fibery |
No | Private company; Freemium | Combination of Notion and Airtable features | Poland | Fibery.io |
.png) Nuclino |
No | Private company; Freemium | Notion alternative | Germany | Nuclino.com |
RTA's choice
We use Obsidian and Standard Notes for day to day tasks, and are looking into using Capacities or Tana for knowledge maps.
Pro tip: Obsidian is mainly designed for local use - it writes to .md files on your device. That is a standard file format so you are not locked in. You can use SyncThing to sync the notes files between your devices, even your mobile. No central server needed! Standard Notes can be configured to work in a similar way.