Obsidian with syncthing works offline.

Obsidian with synchronization to my Nextcloud instance

Obsidian, or a normal txt

I use text files and grep

Obsidian with syncthing for syncing between my phone and PC.

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.

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 The functionality is nice, but visually the app looks a little outdated in my opinion.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

Emacs. Org. Mode.

Use Orgzly Revived for mobile sharing.

Logseq!

I use Logseq in my PC and my phone and I unse Syncthing to sync the notes accross my devices.

Mostly just copious amounts of “new tab” in notepad++

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

• 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.

Joplin synched with syncthing (or Synchthing.fork on android).