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What are the best note taking apps for Linux?

16
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102
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The Best 2 of 16 OptionsWhy?

16 Options ConsideredPriceOpen SourcePlatforms
Excellent
Turtl
Yes–
Excellent
Simplenote
–Android / iOS / OSX / Windows / Linux
Google Keep
–Android / iOS / Chrome / Web / Desktop
Inkdrop
–macOS,Windows,Linux,iOS,Android
Boostnote
–Windows/MacOS/Linux/Andoid/iOS
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Excellent

Turtl

Francisco
Jayoshi
edisonm
Top Pro

Native and offline-capable on many platforms (Linux, Windows, macOS, Android)

•••
Turtl can be used across all the major computer operating systems and also on Android. In addition, the APK for Android doesn't have to be downloaded from Google Play store, for those who do not like it.
Jayoshi
edisonm
Top Pro

Free and Open Source

•••
Turtl is licensed under the GPLv3, which makes the application very transparent and encourages good practices.
Laura Kyle
Top Pro

Good security

•••
After assigning a password to your account in Turtl, a key is created to encrypt the entire account. No data is stored on their servers meaning they have no access to unencrypted content. This is a huge leg up when comparing to other Evernote alternatives.
Paolo
FascinatingLevana
Top Pro

Supported on multiple platforms

•••
Turtl has applications for all the major operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Firefox, Chrome). In addition, there are extensions available for Firefox and Chrome that cooperate with the downloadable applications.
x.
edisonm
Top Pro

Chromium / Chrome and legacy Firefox Plugins for sending bookmarks to Turtl application

•••
edisonm
Top Pro

Note sharing functionality

•••
Chloe Montanez
DiligentMelete
Top Con

No offline access

•••
Turtl is a very great note-taking app that supports privacy and availability except it does not work without internet connection. If you are out on a job, and your phone is dead or has no wireless tether, you lose the ability to perform the initial decryption necessary to access your Turtl accoun...
ChattyEleos
Top Con

Installation & Permission Problems are common

•••
Requires terminal commands to configure and root to run.
See 3 more ProsSee 6 more Pros & Cons
Excellent

Simplenote

Laura Kyle
Top Pro

Markdown support via web interface

•••
There is support for Markdown when using the web app. This can be convenient for those who want to use Markdown in a particular note.
Laura Kyle
Top Pro

Very simple and clean interface

•••
Simplenote takes a minimalist approach to its interface. There are no toolbars full of formatting options or extra features like notebooks to group notes. The entire desktop interface consists solely of a sidebar with your tags and trash filters, the list of existing notes with search, a button to...
Ricardo Rodrigues
Top Pro

Shared Notes

•••
Laura Kyle
Top Pro

Works offline

•••
Users can edit and create documents offline, can then sync their content the next time they are online. This way a user can work even when there's no data connection without the worry of losing work.
Laura Kyle
Top Pro

"Time machine" style revision control on the notes

•••
Each edit of a note is saved in order to allow the user to go back to a previous version of a document. This way, if mistakes are made or something is deleted, you can go back to the previous version without any hassle.
Laura Kyle
Top Con

No support for file attachments

•••
Simplenote doesn't provide support for embedded attachments. This can limit the use for some as many other note-taking apps do support this type of feature.
Monika
CourageousPodaga
Top Con

Only Online use

•••
If you are not connected to the internet the application will not work.
Monika
CourageousPodaga
Top Con

Requires that you sign up for an account

•••
You can not use the application without an account with simplenote.
Chloe Montanez
KindAngraMainyu
Top Con

No note groupings

•••
All notes are in the same place (sidebar) and there is no way to group them under different notebooks or categories.
Laura Kyle
Top Con

No way to bulk-apply a tag

•••
This is a typical workflow action in other apps: Do a search, multi-select notes among the matches, then apply or de-apply one or more tags to all these notes at once. There's no way to do this in Simplenote. The only bulk operations are Delete and Pin-to-top.
Laura Kyle
Top Con

Search is limited to one tag

•••
There seems to be no way to find notes that have both tag X and tag Y. This isn't a big deal until you have a large library of notes, and want to cross-search for two things at the same time to vastly narrow down your search.
See 5 more Pros & ConsSee 9 more Pros & Cons
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14 Other Options Considered

Google Keep

Sarmad Abdullah
Top Pro

Localized to many languages

•••
Sarmad Abdullah
Top Pro

Nice responsive UI

•••
Sarmad Abdullah
Top Pro

Supports images

•••
Sarmad Abdullah
Top Pro

Supports checklists

•••
Sarmad Abdullah
Top Pro

Syncs automatically with your Android phone

•••
Sarmad Abdullah
Top Con

Your notes have to be stored on the cloud

•••
daddy32
Top Con

Not distributed

•••
Cannot run on own servers as Keep will only run on Google's own servers. This increases the risks which are normally associated with handing over critical applications to a large (US) corporation.
daddy32
Top Con

Not free/libre

•••
This application is proprietary, and thus cannot be modified or freely distributed.
daddy32
Top Con

Can be taken down some day

•••
As Google is notorious for taking down services, you may end up with just a backup of your notes in XML format and a need to look for a substitute.
daddy32
Top Con

Google can access and mine your data

•••
You have to be okay with Google analyzing and using your data in order to use Keep.
Sarmad Abdullah
Top Con

It's a Google Chrome app, rather than a stand alone app.

•••
See 9 more Pros & ConsSee 9 more Pros & Cons

Inkdrop

Add Video or Image
Belle
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Secure backend

•••
craftzdog
Top Pro

Multi-platform

•••
It also runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android.
CreativeYacatecuhtli
Top Pro

Markdown with code syntax support

•••
It's useful for taking notes for programming.
Belle
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Supports flowchart and sequence diagrams

•••
Belle
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Create-your-own themes and plugins

•••
Belle
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Responsive developer

•••
Belle
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Supports Math equations

•••
TalentedMilEspaine
Top Con

Expensive

•••
Ray
izoom
Top Con

Not open source

•••
See 7 more Pros & ConsSee 7 more Pros & Cons

Boostnote

Add Video or Image
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Markdown support

•••
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Open source

•••
https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Supports code snippets and syntax highlighting

•••
Boostnote has the ability to store code snippets and comes with syntax highlighting out of the box, supporting many languages.
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

vim/emacs key bindings available

•••
Boostnote supports vim/emacs key bindings. If you're a developer familiar with either of them, navigation should be easy to pick up.
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Works offline

•••
Boostnote doesn't require an internet connection to work. You can write notes offline and sync later.
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Global search, tag feature

•••
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Cross platform support

•••
Supports Windows, macOS and Linux.
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Comes with many themes

•••
Boostnote comes with many themes out of the box, most of which are popular themes and color schemes for code editors: e.g. 3024, base16, solarized, tomorrow.
WhiteLilac
Top Pro

Great for developers

•••
Boostnote is great for developers looking to take programming notes with code snippets and such.
Ray
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Con

Cannot attach files to a note

•••
Boostnote does not support file attachments to notes.
Monika
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Con

Geared towards developers only, for storing code

•••
Currently not intended for general use.
WhiteLilac
Top Con

Some of the features are not consistent

•••
WhiteLilac
Top Con

Must use third-party service for sync-ing (Dropbox, etc.)

•••
Boostnote does not have sync-ing capabilities and relies on third-party services to fulfil notes storage. There are additional steps involved to set this up.
See 11 more Pros & ConsSee 11 more Pros & Cons

Zim

ThriftyAbhcan
Top Pro

Freely Licensed

•••
Libre software for users who value their freedom.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Pro

Support for multiple platforms

•••
Windows, Linux, and BSD are supported with their own clients. This is nice for those that use multiple operating systems but still want to use the same app on each.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Pro

Good export options

•••
Zim supports HTML, LaTeX, Pandoc Markdown, and RST. This allows ones documents to be easily used in a wide selection of other apps.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Pro

Automatically manages files and folders

•••
Zim will automatically create a folder structure that fits your page hierarchy and adds/removes files such as images to/from appropriate folders.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Pro

Plain text data format rather than proprietary

•••
If/when the app is no longer developed (or if the user simply decides to no longer use the application or view/edit it on a non-supported platform), this can still be done with any plain-text editor.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Pro

Allows for organized, wiki-style navigation

•••
Notes can contain links to other notes, allowing you to reference important information when needed. This way the user can connect and reference many different pages in the app, keeping things clean and structured, unlike Evernote, which makes this a good Evernote alternative.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Con

Looks ancient

•••
Zim has a very plain and outdated interface.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Con

No mobile app support

•••
This is a desktop app and there are no mobile versions available. This can make it more difficult to use on-the-go if using cloud storage to store files from the app, as there is no mobile app version to access those files.
ThriftyAbhcan
Top Con

No native sync support

•••
Zim notes don't automatically synchronize with other devices or offer built-in cloud sync support. Of course the user can add the files to Dropbox, or something similar, to then open them on another device with the app installed. But this is more of a work-around than a built-in solution.
See 7 more Pros & ConsSee 7 more Pros & Cons

Joplin

Add Video or Image
Kristaps
ImmaculatePuhaorangi
Top Pro

Supports multiple languages

•••
English, French and Spanish.
Monika
ImmaculatePuhaorangi
Top Pro

Supports markdown

•••
Monika
ImmaculatePuhaorangi
Top Pro

Offline access

•••
Monika
Kristaps
ImmaculatePuhaorangi
Top Pro

Cross-platform

•••
Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.
schlaumeier
Top Pro

Supports file attachments

•••
schlaumeier
Top Pro

Supports tags for notes

•••
ImmaculatePuhaorangi
Top Con

Doesn't auto update on Linux

•••
ImmaculatePuhaorangi
Top Con

Can't create tags from the mobile app

•••
See 6 more Pros & ConsSee 6 more Pros & Cons

Notes (formerly known as Bijiben)

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Simplenote official app

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Collate Notes

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Francisco
Patrick Lee
Top Pro

Markdown support

•••
Francisco
Patrick Lee
Top Pro

Rich Text support

•••
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Web clipper

•••
A web clipper built into the app saves web pages locally.
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

All data is saved locally

•••
Data is saved to a local hard drive, not stored on a company's servers.
Iwan Kelaiah
Top Pro

Cross-platform support

•••
Support for macOs, Windows and Linux.
Patrick Lee
Top Pro

AppImage, .deb, .rpm, and .tar.gz installers

•••
DiligentMelete
Top Con

Android/iOS Missing

•••
No mobile application :(
See 5 more ProsSee 5 more Pros

Tomboy

x.
Top Pro

Links

•••
Easy and effective wiki-style capabilities.
Know any negative aspects of this option?

Laverna

Know any positive aspects of this option?
FascinatingLevana
Top Con

Still a lot of bugs to squash

•••
Laverna is still in early stages of development and as such not all functionality is well tested.

Slite

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gNote

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GloboNote

Add Video or Image
Law12
Top Pro

Simple and clean interface

•••
Law12
Top Pro

Free and platform independent

•••
Can run on Windows, Linux and Mac that has Java 6 or higher running
Know any negative aspects of this option?
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MyNotex

Add Video or Image

102 Community Recommendations

vegandoc66
Onze
schlaumeier
craftzdog
Brikena Sukaj
Dhaval Patel
Junpei Shimotsu
Stephane Piriou
Laure Albouy
Omega9
Ricardo Rodrigues
+68
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Request recommendations from the community
CourageousPodaga
CourageousPodaga
Contributor for 25 days
2
Total 
Recs.
190
Total 
Karma
Simplenote
25 days ago
When the application demanded that I signup for an account in order to use the application on my computer, it was deleted. I am looking for a Note Taking Application not an online service masquerading as an application.
Con
 Requires that you sign up for an account
Con
 Only Online use
1See full
CourageousPodaga
CourageousPodaga
Contributor for 25 days
2
Total 
Recs.
190
Total 
Karma
Turtl
25 days ago
This is not an application it is "Software as Service".
Con
 No offline access
Con
 Requires that you sign up for an account
See full
izoom
izoom
Contributor for 2 months
1
Total 
Recs.
10
Total 
Karma
Inkdrop
2 months ago
Not open source !
See full
CreativeYacatecuhtli
CreativeYacatecuhtli
Contributor for 2 months
1
Total 
Recs.
10
Total 
Karma
Inkdrop
Recommended 2 months ago
I use it as my main note taking app for lectures at university.
Pro
 Multi-platform
Pro
 Markdown with code syntax support
See full
Currently displaying 4 out of 102 total recommendations.
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