this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.selfhostcat.com/post/93395

I've gone handwritten, obsidian, onenote, and now Trilium. Considering switching to something else because there is no offline mobile support.

I use memos and trilium together but since neither offers mobile offline support considering switching both. No reason to run two services when I could run one.

Considering:

  • Joplin
  • Logseq
  • SiYuan
  • ?
top 50 comments
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Nextcloud notes, it gets the job done πŸ‘

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

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.

[–] Asparagus0098 4 points 7 hours ago

Obsidian with syncthing for syncing between my phone and PC.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 hours ago

I've been using logseq with syncthing for sync, across laptop/desktop/Android. Works ok, app can be a little chunky though and sometimes the manualness of coding queries can. E annoying. I have used joplin, trillium, Zim and a few others in the past. Installed silver bullet as a try too but haven't gotten far into playing with it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Remnote, sadly i believe there are substantially better places for sync capable noting but theyre all either paid or use third party bs like gdrive. Need joplin and proton drive to work something out!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Oh I'm ashamed of this one, but notability on a second hand iPad for handwritten and otherwise notion. I'm sorry but nothing has its polish, goodnotes just isn't good enough and doesn't have enough setting to make it good either. I refuse to use one note. In regards to notion it's the sharing and collaboration features that are killer.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

I've been happy with joplin, I leave it on my nextcloud

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

TXT files I sync with syncthing.

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

Mobile offline sync is a lost cause. The dev environment, even on Android, is so hostile you'll never get a good experience.

Joplin comes close, but it's still extremely unreliable and I've had many dropped notes. It also takes hours to sync a large corpus.

I wrote my own web app using Axum and flask that I use. Check out dokuwiki as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

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.

[–] akilou 1 points 7 hours ago

Obsidian and it syncs to my home server

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

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

[–] TriflingToad 3 points 10 hours ago

300 page 5 subject 5-star branded binder for actual schoolwork

for personal scheduling/journaling?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago

Mostly just copious amounts of "new tab" in notepad++

[–] [email protected] 3 points 12 hours ago

I use Joplin. They have a sync server you can host for yourself.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 14 hours ago

I'm using https://anytype.io/. Offline applications for all major systems, synchronization out of the box.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Obsidian.md + paying for sync.

Transitioned from a mix of Keep + OneNote + Obsidian.md to just Keep (hidden todo list feature I utilize to keep track of shipping orders I have yet to receive) and obsidian.md (I have yet to import my old personal and work KB into the synced KB).
My other option was NotesNook

Heres my thread: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/34370838

[–] [email protected] 6 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Also Obsidian but with syncthing

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

I expected obsidian to not store the kb locally with bare files but more like in a microsoft cloud-like approach.
Oh well. At least it's stable and has partly a transactional sync history.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

Syncthing on my home server, synced with each device I use for notetaking, has been glorious so far. I wish Obsidian would offer Sync for a cheaper rate, because I'd pay if it felt like anything near the cost of actual sync and storage. But Obsidian's cheapest tier is more expensive than my email hosting!

[–] [email protected] 31 points 21 hours ago

Obsidian, or a normal txt

[–] [email protected] 3 points 13 hours ago

I use joplin with joplin server running through a reverse proxy in a docker container. I love it. It also supports encryption, so you could use a more convenient service like Google drive and still be assured of your privacy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 16 hours ago

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!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

I use Joplin. The functionality is nice, but visually the app looks a little outdated in my opinion. It's worth it though.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Same, the builtin sync between devices using WebDAV was the critical feature for me choosing Joplin over Obsidian.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 13 hours ago

Just a folder + syncthing. no extra infra is necessary + easy to backup.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

I did too with the joplin sync server until, without a failure or any error messages, it ate all my notes.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 19 hours ago

I use obsidian but I wish there was an open source notes platform that could do what I want:

  1. Excalidraw support ( or similar ) with PDF import and annotation support ( this is achieved by a plugin on obsidian )
  2. Vim mode
  3. Markdown for everything

I have tried so many notetaking tools and the closest I ever got was using xournalpp for PDF annotation and drawing, then writing plain markdown in helix / neovim, with a live markdown rendering pane on the side. Was just too clunky though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 21 hours ago

Nextcloud. But only because I already have it. I wouldn't set it up just for that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 19 hours ago

Nextcloud notes is just my life now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I currently have some notes in Nextcloud notes which I quite like. I don't need anything too fancy. Markdown is nice to have, but not required if there is some ui way to make checkboxes. If I remember correctly, in the nextcloud notes app you have to set the folder that it uses. Which makes shared notes impractical, if not impossible.

Because of this, I still have several notes shared with my wife in Google keep for things like shopping lists. I'm tempted to test out the shopping list function in home assistant, but not sure if it will fit the needs. Would be nice to find something that covers all my use cases in one app.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

In Nextcloud you can use Deck or Collections for shared notes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

Thanks, I'll have a look!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago

I use Obsidian with the obsidian-live sync docker container to sync data between devices instantaneously. It is not open source but they store plaintext markdown notes and its extendable with plenty of open source plugins.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago

org-roam but logseq is good too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Silverbullet for web access (including mobile pwa) and syncthing + markor on android.

Yes syncthing is well and alive on android (to prevent the usual posting "its dead on android", no it's not)

Joplin has a pretty slow UI and it doesn't save notes in standard markdown format.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Why not use the silverbullet pwa on android?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

I've used Logseq for 2-3 years but it's slow and a pain to use on mobile. I discovered Tiddlywiki in December, I love how customizable it is, but it's been taking me a while to tweak it to match my usual workflow. Running it via nodejs server on android (termux) and laptops (so I'm accessing it on localhost on all devices) and syncing the wikis between devices using Syncthing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

I've used a bunch, but I eventually moved to SilverBullet and will probably stick with it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 21 hours ago

I use Joplin. It's fairly simple and very comparable to Evernote if you've ever used that, but it's perfect for my needs.

I used LogSeq before, it's very similar to Obsidian, the big difference being that it's open source. It's got a ton of features and the built-in whiteboard is actually really good, but I found it a bit overkill for my simple note taking.

  • Logseq also makes each line start with a bulleted list which quickly made me go insane
[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Obsidian + syncthing on both my computer and android phone. I love that I can selectively sync certain folders to my phone so not everything is there slowing it down.

I want to like logseq but all the bullet points feels weird to me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 17 hours ago

Logseq is also really really slow once you have a lot of notes unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

For notes??

[–] [email protected] 3 points 21 hours ago

Trillium. It works well via browser and reasonably on a mobile browser.

Obsidian is excellent but I can't install any applications on my work computer and the web hosted version was buggy and slow. If I didn't have IT blocking me I'd be using Obsidian again.

[–] Object 2 points 19 hours ago

If you're considering (something) + Syncthing, try Orgmode. It looks like Markdown but has a lot of features for note management and navigation.

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