A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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Mind sharing what were your issues with Joplin?
My only issue is that it does not have any widgets on Android. So, I use Nextcloud Notes when I need that. But Joplin is actually great. You can self host a joplin server or sync using a Nextcloud server. It supports advanced markdown and I like the UI as well.
You can try Bookstack, but it will work on a web browser only. Another option is Obsidian, but I think only the apps are FOSS, the backend is not.
Obsidian isn't FOSS at all, sadly.
Though, they're not the data-hungry kind of proprietary, or use some proprietary format. It's basically just a really fancy markdown editor with plugin support. No telemetry, no accounts, and sync can be self-hosted.
I like Joplin too, and I use it when I can instead of Keep. It supports a pretty good range of synchronization mechanisms. But it doesn't have the collaboration capability of Keep, so when I'm doing shared shopping lists or to do lists, I still end up using Keep.
I think Joplin is the best too, but I wish they will rewrite their app using Tauri or flutter for better performance and native app integration. Feature wise it is the best one that is FOSS.
Right, obsidian didn't appeal to me since it's proprietary.
I probably will look into setting up a Joplin server and maybe write a frontend for it. Also didn't try frontend options on PC yet.
Until now I only tried the Android app and while it looked quite mature, I didn't get quite the UX from it I was anticipating.
Some things that bothered me:
Creating a note requires 2 clicks, 1 should be fine.I want to start writing and decide whether its a todo later.
Tag management. In Keep #tags are parsed from text automatically. Although there is a conflict with markdown syntax, having to issue 3 clicks to add a tag seems bothersome
Tags are not shown in the main menu, but are another view.
Didn't figure out what notebooks are supposed to be, but i guess some kind of directory system. Don't see the point when having a tag system. In the end they are too prominent in the UI.
But the synchronization options and markdown capabilities are a big plus. mardown is actually a feature missing in keep.
I'm a Joplin contributor and if you think the android app is halfway decent, that's a win ahahaha. The desktop apps are what makes it a superstar though, with all the plugins and community. The mobile apps have been slowly modernizing but it's real basic
If you like obsidian but want a FOSS alternative, you might want to try out emacs org-mode and org-roam.
Here is an example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyhPmypHDEw
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=AyhPmypHDEw
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
For the record, I also found that turtl is FOSS and seems to have a decent UI. I will give it a try.
In another comment you complained about the latest commit being made 7 years ago. Just a heads up, this project also seems pretty abandoned.
Did you try it?
Anything wrong with Nextcloud Notes?
I guess it does a job, but will lack some features like tagging I am accustomed to from keep. Also I would need to maintain a whole nextcloud instance for it.
It has "categories". Not sure if thats the same thing
I replaced keep with nextcloud notes many years ago
...ssh and vim?
Lol
what about emacs?
I'm really enjoying Otterwiki. Everything is saved as markdown, attachments are next to the markdown files in a folder, and version control is integrated with a git repo. Everything lives in a directory and the application runs from a docker container.
It's the perfect amount of simplicity and is really just a UI on top of fully portable standard tech.
Quillpad is open source and pretty much identical to Google Keep - you can use Nextcloud to sync across devices.
All I really want is a way to import my lists, my many many lists.
Hmm, latest commit 7 years ago... It was also not easy to find the "upstream" repo, the link on the website 404s. https://github.com/cognirel/Quillpad-Server
I didn't even know there was a standalone server, the app doesn't even seem to support it anymore, just Nextcloud.
What about Obsidian?
I actually stumbled upon it, but even though they have an active github account and there is an Arch Linux package, the software is proprietary. So I would rather patch the FOSS alternatives to my desire.
Logseq is pretty similar to Obsidian, and it’s FOSS. It’s still really young, but I’ve enjoyed using it more than Obsidian for my personal note taking style. It’s block-based and focused on daily journals, so instead of folders of individual notes the tags/references become interlinked pages. It’s been cool to see my daily logs become a web of concepts. Syncing is a new function they’re adding for supporters, but it can be done with Syncthing if you’re nasty.
It’s definitely a different way of note taking than Keep or Joplin and maybe not for everyone, but I hope I’m at least doing it justice and piqued someone’s curiosity!
I was going to recommend Logseq as well. I use the git plug-in on laptops and Working Copy (git on iOS) and some automations to sync it on mobile.
Notesnook, whenever they release self hosting.
Nextcloud and Quillpad is decent.
whenever they release self hosting.
Are there any plans? I just got their 70% off on subscription and I like it, but it would be great if there'd be a self hosted server.
I've had success with Standard Notes personally. I've just used the basic default server, but I know you can self host it. Best of luck!!
Oh, I didn't realize it was open source from the look of the website. But it actually is! And it's active. https://github.com/standardnotes/app
I will check it out.
I want this sooooo bad.
I'm a big fan of Logseq. I use Syncthing to sync a folder between my desktop and phone and it works great. Tagging, everything is in markdown, and it's easy to navigate around.
I use a basic markdown editor on android called Markor. Is Logseq the same? Or is it more than that?
self hosted alternatives for smart home and porn
How does self hosted porn even work and how am I the first person to notice that sitting there and mention it?
I use Nextcloud with Carnet. I haven't used Keep in years so I don't know the current features but when I made the switch to Carnet it was very comparable.
On Nextcloud it is an app you install separately. For your phone you'll find Carner on f-droid. Sadly there is no client for iOS. Link https://www.getcarnet.app/
I don't even need it to be (self)hosted, it can be an offline Android app that looks and behaves like Keep, but is not made by Google.
So notes arranged together, tick boxes, reminders, dark theme.
Have a look at Obsidian. It runs on a variety of devices, you can sync either with their system, or pretty much anything else, as it just stores your notes as markdown files, and you can arrange notes like that with the canvas system.
Im using nextcloud notes and it works perfectly fine in browser/android app. Doesnt look good like google keep, but had no issues with it. Recently I also started using memos, it looks like super simple private twiter and it has awesome android/ios app called MoeMemos. Not sure about encription, but it looks amazing
Honestly, the closest I have found is https://github.com/baggachipz/tinylist It looks like keep, can share and edit files with other people, which is something a lot of things are lacking and I use it extensively for that. Also, I don't like the recommendations of using MD apps/files for a simple checklist/random notes app. That's way too much for something this simple and I use Obsidian as well. But they serve much different purposes.
It allows you to host your own database for it, and there is a guide on it.
No dockerhub image is a dealbreaker. Especially for Unraid
Looks like you can host your own database and tie the web app to that. I'm going to try it later today with my unRAID server.
Memos is self hostable and is "cross platform" by nature of being web-based only. There is a 3rd party mobile app MoeMemos but it doesn't add anything special over the quite excellent progressive web app for plain Memos. Of course you can't use it offline since it's web-based. But I have an always on VPN connection between my phone and my server so home so it's fine.
Notesnook is recently open source, but as of yet not self hostable. It is on the roadmap though. This one is privacy/security oriented and has native apps for just about everything as well as a web interface.
Quillpad is the closest interface-wise to Keep, but it can only sync with Nextcloud and I can't run that beast on my old hardware. Too clunky and slow.
I've been on this hunt for awhile but I realized that I use Keep differently than other folks on the same journey. It's mostly a list focused service for me. Sometimes with check boxes, sometimes not. Most of the FOSS not taking apps can use some markdown, but that is a bear to use on mobile without a quick way to inject a checkbox. Memos has a button for a few formatting items on each "post" and thankfully one is the Markdown checkbox shortcut.
For notes, personal knowledge management, and everything else I use and love Obsidian.