I’m completely new to selfhosting but see a lot of potential. I wonder if anyone knows a good way to self host a notetaking app? The point is that I need to access my notes on multiple devices so self hosting them could be a nice idea. I currently use google keep and goodnotes but would like to leave those behind…
I’d vote for anytype or obsidian
Anytype has a learning curve, But it has built-in encryption and IPFS syncing provided by the company. The templating system is really slick and the relational aspect is pretty solid.
Obsidian + syncthing fork is a really solid contender. It’s much easier to work with out of the box but the features are a little more generic.
Neither of these are really self-hosted, so much as they are contained in their own ecosystem. You get some measure of higher availability that you have to really work for if you’re really self-hosting a product.
Hm at some point Anytype apps will be configurable for custom servers tho (i assumed they were already but i might have been wrong).
Obsidian also has some interesting sync plugins that dont require syncthing
The crypto is decent, it’s electron so it’s source available. If you want to ignore their hosting solution, you can disable the syncing and just take the vault from its config directory and sync it yourself
The real downsides are that it’s not actual open source, so if they decided to screw around with the security or turn the crypto off somebody can’t just fork it.
Nextcloud is a really good all-in-one solution for self hosting data
You can browse the collection on OpenAlternative here: https://openalternative.co/categories/notetaking
Thanks a lot!
I use https://silverbullet.md and love it, it’s a bit more than a note taking app, but it’s definitely worth it.
Obsidian is pretty neat. Can use it with Syncthing, although I guess you need Syncthing-Fork on Android now.
Obsidian is not open source but i also think it’s pretty neat.
Resilio sync works great for that since syncthing is on the out. I actually prefer Resilio anyways
What’s this about Syncthing now?
Dev discontinued the app due to google being difficult to maintain.
Ah damn. Thanks for the info
I migrated to the Syncthing android fork, and it’s even better than the original.
See my comment about Resilio sync above
Logseq + SyncThing-Fork for me. The killer feature I was looking for to switch from Evernote was voice recording support, logseq is the first thing I’ve found that does a decent job of it while having a solid Workflowy-style “bullets all the way down” interface, which I’ve come to appreciate. The mobile app still leaves a lot to be desired, it’s a little clunky with lots of buttons and very limited swipe gestures. Gets the job done anyhow, and the desktop app is amazing.
Thanks!
I use Joplin on top of Nextcloud.
I setup nextcloud and just use that to backup my Obsidian notes. But I also use next cloud deck depending on the type of notes or list I’m making
You should take a look at the selfhosted live sync plugin for obsidian. It’s been working flawlessly for me for the past year.
Doesn’t it actually require you to sign up to an account on some app hosting platform, rather than self host it?
No, but that is an option if you dont have the hardware to self host it. I have it on one of my vms on my server in the basement.
EDIT: I just took another look at the github repo and it kind of looks like you can’t just selfhost it, but you can, the main readme is just a little confusing. Click on the “Setup your CouchDB” link in the manual section and the selfhosted via docker guide is there.
Nextcloud has a Notes app too
This is what I use
Obsidian but with syncthing here, just syncs the files across my devices.
Probably Joplin is the easiest to use. Looks like OneNote but it’s different in many ways.
After trying a bunch, I’m using Obsidian + <your choice of sync plugin> now. Good thing with Obsidian is your notes are ultimately a bunch of plaintext files, so you can do whatever you want with them, and it comes with clients for most platforms.
Another option is Trilium, it is pretty powerful, and has a webapp so as long as you can access a browser, you’ll be able to access your notes. https://github.com/zadam/trilium
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Been using Logseq since February and it’s been a game changer. My only gripes are a) inability to access via browsers, and b) lack of a quick note function. Sometimes I still use Keep to jot something down and transfer later. Logseq spends a solid 5+ seconds syncing upon opening, which can feel like an eternity when trying to quickly log something.
For browser, there is a webapp that can be selfhosted. See here https://github.com/logseq/logseq/blob/master/docs/docker-web-app-guide.md
I think you need chromium browsers due to the API they use, but it should work.
+1 for the open source option: Trilium The project is being maintained here: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Notes
Appflowy if Notion appels you. It is not 1.0 yet so some features you need might not be there.
Never heard of them. Will check them out sometime. Thx.
Affine is a newer project and has interesting features. Outline is more mature. I prefer outline a little bit more 😌
Man we need a giant comparison table. I looked into these but have been trying out SiYuan.
Yea… I may put one together because I’ve tried so many just trying to find the right fit and that includes handwriting support. I wish Obsidian had better handwriting support because it’s my favorite notes app.
Siyuan wants an account even if I want to sync in WebDAV or S3, sorry but no.
My solution is basically what @mojolobo mentions with Nextcloud behind it and I love the concept. Because Obsidian (via a WebDAV plugin on the phone) just syncs with the “Notes” folder in my Nextcloud root it really is just a bunch of .md (markdown) files. It gives me an added sense of security (on top of the self-hosting aspect) because I can see those files everywhere I have Nextcloud installed, I can edit them manually if I wanted to. On the PC you just point the Obsidian app to the folder, on phones you do it via a WebDAV plugin.
Quillpad is the closest I’ve found. It’s simple markdown files. It can sync with Nextcloud as well. I use it for any short note or lists. Long form stuff including journal, I use Obsidian (not open source)
It really does have that same look that Google Keep has! Thanks for recommending, I will try this! Do you have experience with syncing Quillpad with Nextcloud?
Yes. I have a Pi4 running NextcloudPi image on it. I sync docs, pics, even backup my Obsidian vault. It’s worked really well for Quillpad in my experience. On desktop I use Iotas (Linux) if I need to update from that instead of my phone.
I use Memos and love it.
I connect to it from my desktop at home and from my phone via a WireGuard VPN and it’s everything I need. Worth a look, I think.
Looks great! Does it have handwriting support?
I don’t see anything about that on their site.
Yeah Memos is great. I use it as a personal journal. It supports great features like Postgres database, tags, filters, S3 for assets, SSO with OIDC. Dev works on more features like referencing notes if I read correctly
Only downside for me is, pictures are always at the end of a note, not inline like in wikis
Memos fits a wide variety of uses and is the first note system that has clicked for me. I use it for quick notes so I don’t forget things, journal-like entries, save for later (like Pocket), shopping lists and other todos.
I use Joplin, no complaints.
