What are the best note taking apps for Linux?

Question

36

Options
Considered

1K

User
Recs.

May 23, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 31 OptionsWhy?

Best note taking apps for Linux	Price	Platforms	License
94 Turtl	Free	Windows, Linux, Mac, Android	-
88 Joplin	FOSS	Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS	MIT
83 Simplenote	Free	Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS	-
74 Tomboy	FREE	Windows; OSX; Linux	-
-- QOwnNotes	-	Mac OSX; Windows; Linux	GPL

See Full List

30 Other Options Considered

Joplin

Top Pro

Offline access

Top Con

Sync issue under Linux

The Linux client has a bug that requires the user to click the mouse frequently in order for sync to proceed. This bug has been open for a while. See More

GenerousVenus's Experience

OPEN SOURCE. encryption, timed reminder alarms, simple to use and agile response times. also available on linux and android. ticks all the boxes for me ! See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

License:MIT

Export:Yes

Sync:File System, OneDrive, Next Cloud, WebDav, DropBox, JoplinCloud, s3 (Beta)

See All Specs

Top Pro

Open source

Peace of mind that there is no malicious piece of software in the app. See More

Top Con

Gargantuan memory footprint

1GB+ of memory for taking notes. See More

ConfidentQetesh's Experience

Available on all platforms. Specifically the desktop app has become a full fledged notetaking tool. See More

Top Pro

Encryption

Top Con

Old school interface

FunnyTamanuitera's Experience

Need the app open for the web clipper to work. Right click on selection to clip to Joplin does not always work, resulting in having to cut and paste. It's not a patch on Onenote, wish they did a local client for Linux. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. See More

Top Con

Bloated

This project is suffering from feature creep and uses a lot of memory for a note-taking app. See More

CaringOchopintre's Experience

sync issues on windows See More

Top Pro

Supports file attachments

Top Con

App Image launches very slowly

On Linux, you can only install via App Image, which take 5+ seconds to launch. I can launch LibreOffice in under two seconds. See More

BraveIrpa's Experience

Encrypted cross-platform easy to use and access everywhere. See More

Top Pro

Supports markdown

Top Con

Sync issues on Windows

No way to change account settings and sync easily corrupted. See More

CoolUsumgallu's Experience

Slow launch time See More

Top Pro

Supports tags for notes

Top Con

Weak tag searching

Joplin can currently only search for a single tag at a time. None of the boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are available for use in searches. This greatly diminishes the usefulness of tags in Joplin. See More

SupportiveBoinayel's Experience

Even if it was paid this app would already be superior to Evernote, Keep and Onenote in many aspects (cross-platform native support, privacy features, Markdown oriented support). On top of it, it is also open source, entirely free and can be hosted in a variety of ways. It is trivial to open a free nextcloud account with a provider of choice (see here https://nextcloud.com/signup/) and have all the features above plus seamless synchronization. See More

Top Pro

Web Clipper

Browser extension saves full pages, clean content, or screen selections to new notes. See More

Top Con

Can't create tags from the mobile app

CuriousIxchel's Experience

Couldn't even get it to launch on Linux See More

Top Pro

Optional CLI interface

Provides a CLI interface for terminal lovers. See More

Massimiliano Adamo's Experience

don need to create an account on their platform See More

Top Pro

Supports multiple languages

English, French, and Spanish, Italian, German, Czech and many others. See More

PassionateAhti's Experience

very good See More

Top Pro

Active user forum with support from app creators

Support, troubleshooting, and new feature requests are easy to make at the user forum and you can contact the app creator directly. See More

FunCloacina's Experience

Excellent app! It's easy to take notes w/ images+file attachment support. The encrypted sync feauture is a major advantage . Even terminal enthusiasts can edit and sync there notes in the vim-like customizable terminal app. See More

Top Pro

Dropbox support

Can sync using Dropbox. See More

Top Pro

Nextcloud support

Top Pro

Timed alarm reminder for to-do lists

See All

Simplenote

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. See More

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. See More

CourageousPodaga's Experience

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. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

API:No

Collaborative:yes

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 add a new note and a simple view for looking an existing note or writing a new one. See More

Top Con

Unencrypted at rest

From Simplenote's help page: we recommend not using Simplenote to store anything particularly sensitive. See More

ShakiestNerd's Experience

Sweet combination of simplicity, synchronization and mark-down support. See More

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. See More

Top Con

Requires that you sign up for an account

You can not use the application without an account with simplenote. See More

ProudAlanGua's Experience

Absolutely best notes program I've ever used. Syncs seamlessly across platforms, is capable of exporting all notes as text files with one click (extremely useful feature), good filing system and search. Everything is straight forward and exactly that--simple. See More

Top Pro

Linux client available

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. See More

Ajay Kumar Rawani's Experience

Awesome ! See More

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. See More

Top Con

Only Online use

If you are not connected to the internet the application will not work. See More

Top Pro

Desktop app is open source

The desktop version of Simplenote is hosted on the GitHub and since it is open source, it can allow developers to fork the code in order to improve the app. See More

Top Con

No 32-bit version

Top Pro

Geared towards fast usage

Unlike alternatives (such as Evernote) that are laden with features, Simplenote is fast to use and sync. Reviews from the Verge, Lifehacker, and a variety of other sources all describe using the Simplenote apps as very fast. While it may not be as feature-rich as other apps, the responsiveness of the app and simple interface keep it easy to use while never slowing down the user when they need to quickly take a note. See More

Top Con

The search function doesn't see tags

If you search for 'foo' you won't find notes with tag foo. In that regard, tags are completely isolated from the search. See More

Top Pro

Shared Notes

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. See More

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 More

See All

Logseq

Top Pro

Structured data over willy-nilly formatting

Lots of apps are too graphically flexible in how they allow content to be entered, placed, and formatted. They act like Word when what you want when authoring content is Markdown. Content and semantic structure, not graphical frills. See More

Top Con

Still in Alpha

Logseq is still in Alpha and is under heavy development. See More

DazzlingLiber's Experience

The journal function makes me want to actually take notes every day and the linking makes it possible to find those notes when I need them at a later time. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS

Technology:Clojure

Top Pro

Networked notes

Similar to Roam's technique of letting the notes flow with links to each other. See More

Top Con

Multi screen has issues

When using multiple windows with the same document open you can expect conflicts as both instances try to write to the same file. See More

Top Pro

Privacy-first

Logseq is a privacy-first tool for thought. See More

Top Con

Writing long form documents

While there is a document mode, it's very limited for writing long form documents. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Logseq is opensource. See More

Top Con

Keyboard-driven editing/navigating is descent but average

It is only because I was a long-time Checkvist user that I say this. Checkvist has keyboard-driven controls which are in a league of their own. See More

Top Pro

Daily journal is capture on Steriods

The daily journal feature allows you to quickly capture disparate topics under today's date and by way of tags make things organized and findable from any topic page. See More

Top Pro

Outliner first

For structured notes using an outliner makes it super simple to keep related notes together on multiple levels. See More

Top Pro

Logseq sync

While you can manually sync files, there is a paid option to sync your notes using local encryption. See More

Top Pro

Android app available

While not yet in the app store, you can download the .apk from the site and use the app on mobile. See More

Top Pro

iOS app available

Being able to access your notes on the go is essential for quick references and thought capture. Not perfect though as Logseq is very keyboard driven. See More

Top Pro

Markdown syntax

As Markdown is used everywhere you can format notes right out of the box See More

Top Pro

Local-first software

Every topic is its own flat file. Nothing is better than keeping your data in the file system with an option of git source control or online backup. See here. See More

See All

CherryTree

Top Pro

Lightweight

Fast and small in file size. See More

Top Con

No online sync

Friar Tux's Experience

This is the best database/list/notebook/PIM program so far. It is a database attached to a word processor. It's small and simple to use. It does what it says and does it well. There is a table of contents on the left while the right holds the actual info. It will handle .txt or .rtf format and save it's data in a folder location of your choice. You can even insert pictures. And it's cross-platform so you can save your stuff and switch between Windows and Linux. (It's still much, much simpler to use than those databases that come with most office suites. One of the things I've learned to absolutely dislike are databases - especially the ones that come with office suites. Whoever came up with those was a genius in mental torture. How in the name of St. Patrick are you supposed to work with that. Well, here is a really easy to use database that doesn't require you to do any mental Olympics...) Also, it works a lot better than the Kjots program. *THE BEST DATABASE PROGRAM OUT THERE. I USE THIS ONE A LOT ON BOTH WINDOWS AND LINUX*** See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

Technology:C++

Top Pro

Can be password-protected

Top Con

On Python 2 currently

ExcitedPheme's Experience

simple, useful, beatiful See More

Top Pro

Export to PDF / HTML

Top Con

No cloud sync

LogicalSalus's Experience

Open Source best note takin app See More

Top Pro

Toc generation

Table of content (based on Headings). See More

Top Con

Single user only

BrightGibil's Experience

Simple, with a lot of functionality and password protected. I highly recommend it. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and easy to use

PopularOyamatsumi's Experience

Simple, easy to use, many features... See More

Top Pro

CodeBox for multiple languages

JoyousNyx's Experience

good to take note commands you need or grouping similar commands See More

Top Pro

Supports internal and external links, tables and images

CalmAmm's Experience

Excellent Linux replacement for EverNote. See More

Top Pro

Keyboard shortcuts for productivity

https://giuspen.com/cherrytreemanual/#_keyboard_shortcuts See More

SpiritedCheimon's Experience

Very good and quite complete. With this app it’s easy to organize his notes, codes or whatever thanks to the treeview on the side and a bunch of cool stuff like codebox and node linking. The only downside for me is that the pdf export doesn’t export the links to create an interactive PDF ... so pretty good ! See More

SuccinctLuna's Experience

Easy to get productive with See More

See All

Boostnote

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. See More

Top Con

Cannot attach files to a note

Boostnote does not support file attachments to notes. See More

ElatedHidimbi's Experience

offline. can set font-size can search from all See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows/MacOS/Linux/Android/IOS

License:GPL v3

Export:Yes - Text (.txt), MarkDown (.md)

Markdown support:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Works offline

Boostnote doesn't require an internet connection to work. You can write notes offline and sync later. See More

Top Con

Some of the features are not consistent

Top Pro

Great for developers

Boostnote is great for developers looking to take programming notes with code snippets and such. See More

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 More

Top Pro

Cross platform support

Supports Windows, macOS and Linux. See More

Top Con

Geared towards developers only, for storing code

Currently not intended for general use. See More

Top Pro

Open source

https://github.com/BoostIO/Boostnote See More

Top Pro

Markdown support

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. See More

Top Pro

Global search, tag feature

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. See More

See All

Xournal++

Top Pro

PDF, PNG export

PDF Export (with and without paper style); PNG Export (with and without transparent background) See More

Top Con

No handwrite recognition

Pweł Pakowski's Experience

Great alternative to Microsoft OneNote See More

Specs

Languages:English, French, German, Dutch, Russian, Italian, Spanish

Top Pro

Supports pen input from devices such as Wacom tablets

Top Pro

Advanced PDF annotation tools

Fill shape functionality, shape drawing (line, arrow, circle, rect), shape resizing and rotation. See More

Top Pro

Audio recording and playback alongside with handwritten notes

Top Pro

Plugins using LUA scripting

Top Pro

Grid and rotation snapping

Top Pro

LaTeX support (requires a working LaTeX install)

See All

Standard Notes

Top Con

Formatting enabled only as extension for money

Top Pro

Encrypted

Notes are encrypted and secured so only you can decrypt them. See More

EnterprisingLir's Experience

I have been using Standard Notes for a few years and I really like it. The paid version is more convenient than the free version, but in all fairness the very small amount of money the developer requests is nothing compared to the benefits of using this privacy centered, secure, cross-platform app. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, Web

Technology:TypeScript, Docker

Top Con

Not free!

All the features are in the paid version. The free version is useless. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Available on Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. See More

Top Pro

Simple

Faster and lighter than most notes apps. See More

Top Pro

Extensible

Editors, components, actions, and themes. See More

Top Pro

Themes

Top Pro

Open-source

See All

Inkdrop

Top Pro

Multi-platform

It also runs on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android. See More

Top Con

Not open source

Mike's Experience

Great cross platform note taking app with plug in support. See More

Specs

Platforms:macOS,Windows,Linux,iOS,Android

Export:HTML, Markdown

Markdown support:Yes

API:Yes

See All Specs

Top Pro

Responsive developer

Top Con

Expensive

CreativeYacatecuhtli's Experience

I use it as my main note taking app for lectures at university. See More

Top Pro

Supports Math equations

izoom's Experience

Not open source ! See More

Top Pro

Markdown with code syntax support

It's useful for taking notes for programming. See More

PatientPachaKamaq's Experience

LOL! Are these guys kidding? The price they charge is laughable for the quality of this build. See More

Top Pro

Secure backend

Top Pro

Supports flowchart and sequence diagrams

Top Pro

Create-your-own themes and plugins

See All

Zim

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. See More

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. See More

FunnyJavine's Experience

I switched to Zim from Rednotebook. I've found its interface simple to use and the fact that the notes are text files is a must for me. With NextCloud I can access my notes from all of my devices. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

License:GPL

Technology:Python

Markdown support:Export

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. See More

Top Con

Only one window at a time

It would be useful in many circumstances to have more than one note open at a time. See More

ConscientiousKopala's Experience

works like wiki See More

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. See More

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 More

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. See More

Top Con

Looks ancient

Zim has a very plain and outdated interface. See More

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. See More

Top Pro

Freely Licensed

Libre software for users who value their freedom. See More

Top Pro

Rudimentary task management

Deadlines (automatic if task is in journal), e.g. <2020-01-01 Tagging tasks Overview of tasks from entire notebook Tasks allow labe;ls for parsing so that e.g. [ ] This is not a task if it has only [ ] TODO: [ ] This is a task [ ] This as well Tasks can be organized by priority (Number of "!" assigns higher importance See More

Top Pro

Has a built in web server

You can share your notes via the web. It would be even better if it offered a search function in the web interface. See More

Top Pro

It's a Wiki in a desktop app

See All

Vim

Top Pro

By default in Linux

All Linux distributions out there will have Vim built into them, which is highly convenient! See More

Top Con

Difficult learning curve

You'll spend a lot of time learning all the commands and modes supported in Vim. You'll then spend more time tuning settings to your needs. Although once it's tuned to your needs, you can take your .vimrc to any machine you need and have the same experience across all your computers. See More

Elias Van Ootegem's Experience

I'm using the vim-notes plugin for quick notes. It's easy to set up, easy to access (if you're used to vim's modal editor paradigm). See More

Specs

Platforms:Linux, macOS, Windows, Cygwin

License:Vim License

Extension language:Vim

Top Pro

Excellent performance

As it loads the whole file into RAM, replacing all string occurrences in 100 MB+ files is quick and easy. Every other editor has sort of died during that. It is extremely fast even for cold start. Vim is light-weight and very compact. In terminal, it only uses a small amount of memory and anytime you invoke Vim, it's extremely fast. It's immediate, so much so you can't even notice any time lag. See More

Top Con

High effort to customize

A lot of time and effort is put in to make it specific to your needs. See More

SharpVedenemo's Experience

Use it with SyncThing and you have the most secure and best note experience on Linux. See More

Top Pro

Great productivity

Vim's keyset is mainly restricted to the alphanumeric keys and the escape key. This is an enduring relic of its teletype heritage, but has the effect of making most of Vim's functionality accessible without frequent awkward finger reaches. See More

Top Con

Works poorly out of the box with right-to-left

Top Pro

Keyboard-based, mouse-free interface, and trackpad support

There's no need to reach for the mouse or the Ctrl/Alt buttons again. Everything is a mere key press or two away with almost 200 functions specifically for text editing. Vim does support the mouse, but it's designed so you don't have to use it for greater efficiency. Versions of Vim, like gVim or MacVim, still allow you to use the mouse and familiar platform shortcuts. That can help ease the learning curve and you'll probably find you won't want to (or need to) use the mouse after a while. See More

Top Con

Poor feature discoverability

Though basic features like syntax checking, autocompletion, and file management are all available out of the box or with minimal configuration, this is not obvious to new users, who might get intimidated or assume they need to install complex plugins just so they can have this functionality. Other features new users might expect to find embedded in Vim, such as debugging, instead follow a UNIX-style model where they are called as external programs, the output of which might then be parsed by Vim so it can display results. Users not familiar with this paradigm will likely fault Vim for lacking those features as well. See More

Top Pro

Lightweight and fast

When compared to modern graphical editors like Atom and Brackets (which have underlying HTML5 engines, browsers, Node, etc.), Vim uses a sliver of the system's memory and it loads instantly, all the while delivering the same features. Vim is also faster than Emacs. See More

Top Pro

Tons of plugins/add-ons

This makes Vim the definitive resource for every environment (Ruby/Rails, Python, C, etc.), or simply just provides more information in your view. See More

Top Pro

Once learned, it's very hard to forget

Vim's somewhat steep learning curve is more than made up for once you've mastered a few basic concepts and learned the tricks that allow you to program faster with fewer cut/paste mistakes. See More

Top Pro

Extremely portable

Vi/vim exists on almost all Unix-like platforms. It's the de-facto Unix editor and is easily installed on Windows. All you need to make it work is a text-based connection, so it works well for remote machines with slow connections, or when you're too lazy to set up a VNC/Remote Desktop connection. See More

Top Pro

Free and open-source software

Vim is open-source, GPL-compatible charityware. See More

Top Pro

Can never outgrow it

The fact that very few, if any, people claim to be a "Vim Master" is a testament to the breadth and depth of Vim. There is always something new to learn - a new, perhaps more efficient, way to use it. This prevents Vim from ever feeling stale. It's always fresh. See More

Top Pro

Has multiple distinct editing modes

Interaction with Vim is centered around several "modes", where purpose and keybindings differ in each. Insert mode is for entering text. This mode most resembles traditional text entry in most editors. Normal mode (the default) is entered by hitting ESC and converts all keybindings to center around movement within the file, search, pane selection, etc. Command mode is entered by hitting ":" in Normal mode and allows you to execute Vim commands and scripts similar in fashion to a shell. Visual mode is for selecting lines, blocks, and characters of code. Those are the major modes, and several more exist depending on what one defines as a "mode" in Vim. See More

Top Pro

Can set up keymapping

Top Pro

Multiple clipboards

It is called "registers". See More

Top Pro

Vim encourages discipline

If you use Vim long enough, it will rewire your brain to be more efficient. See More

Top Pro

Status Booster

Using vim not just increase your productivity, but helps you flex. See More

Top Pro

Donations and support to Vim.org helps children in Uganda through ICCF Holland

Top Pro

Asynchronous I/O support

Since Vim 8, Vim can exchange characters with background processes asynchronously. This avoids the problem of the text editor getting stuck when a plugin that had to communicate with a server was running. Now plugins can send and receive data from external scripts without forcing Vim to freeze. See More

Top Pro

Useful undo features

Vim does not only offer unlimited undo levels, later releases support an undo tree. It eventually gives the editor VCS-like features. You can undo the current file to any point in the past, even if a change was already undone again. Another neat feature is persistent undo, which enables to undo changes after the file was closed and reopened again. See More

Top Pro

Has been supported for a long time

And will be supported for many years to come. See More

Top Pro

Macros increase productivity

Many text editors have programmable macros, but since Vim is keyboard-based, your programmed macros are usually far more predictable and easier to understand. See More

Top Pro

Usable from a Terminal or with a GUI (GVim, MacVim)

If you happen to be logged into SSH, you can use Vim in a terminal. It can also run with a GUI too. See More

Top Pro

Works in terminal over SSH

Unlike other editors such as Sublime Text, Vim is a command line editor and hence can be used in remote development environments like Chromebooks via SSH. See More

See All

Google Keep

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. See More

Top Pro

Automatic saving

Automatically saves new changes so that nothing is lost. See More

Specs

Platforms:Android / iOS / Chrome / Web / Desktop

API:No

Top Con

Google account required

You're required to have a Google account in order to use the app. See More

Top Pro

Syncs automatically with your Android phone

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. See More

Top Pro

Unlimited and seamless sync across all Google connected devices, from mobile to desktop

When a mobile device isn't in use, Google Keep can be accessed as a Chrome app or as a website. Basically, no matter the device being used or the OS on it, there is always a way to access the app. There is also no limitation to how many devices this can be done with, freeing up the user to always have access. See More

Top Con

Scrolling through notes is horrible

There are no options to decrease the surface area of the notes to make it easier to get an overview. Compare this to something like the Apple Notes or Evernote UI, for example. You can't organize nor have a glance of what you have. See More

Top Pro

Localized to many languages

Top Con

Not good at all for longer notes

With almost no formatting options whatsoever it's hard to actually use Keep for long-form notes. See More

Top Pro

Nice responsive UI

Top Con

No ability to undo changes

There is no way to revert changes or restore text you may have accidentally deleted (however, you can restore entire notes for up to 7 days after deletion). See More

Top Pro

Supports images

Top Con

No text formatting

No basic formatting like bold, italics. Makes it harder to do things like meeting notes. Keep is intended as a minimal and quick note taking app, but sadly for those that are looking for something more robust, the features are just not there. See More

Top Pro

Supports checklists

Top Con

Your notes have to be stored on the cloud

Top Con

Not free/libre

This application is proprietary, and thus cannot be modified or freely distributed. See More

Top Con

Messy if you have lots of notes

Top Con

Too simplistic of an approach

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. See More

Top Con

It's a Google Chrome app, rather than a standalone app

See All

Org mode for Emacs

Top Pro

Plain text data storage

Future-proof. See More

Top Con

Complicated to get started

Marcel Kapfer's Experience

Great and powerful tool, if one knows its way around. Integrates especially well with other Emacs functions. See More

Top Pro

Supports tables with formules (quite powerful!)

Top Con

Obtuse documentation

The documentation assumes a level of understanding of basic Emacs usage that not all users may have. See More

SuccessfulDemeter's Experience

It's worth the learning curve! See More

Top Pro

Exports data to PDF, LaTeX, HMTL and other

You can even build presentation or blog from your data. See More

Top Con

Uses Emacs (for those who prefer vi, menus, etc.)

ConvivialAlthaea's Experience

Easy to include source code See More

Top Pro

Can be as simple or as complex as you want

Org mode started out as a simple outlining/note taking app. Then each outline heading can optionally be a TODO list item. And if you desire, you can add SCHEDULE and DEADLINE dates. (Schedule being the date you'd like to start the item.) You can customize the TODO states to add things like DELEGATED, WAITING, BLOCKED, etc. See More

MBuchaus's Experience

Once you get into emacs you'll wonder why there are som many other editors.. See More

Top Pro

Libre/open source

ComposedNanshe's Experience

Extensible: Can be automated with it's programming language See More

Top Pro

Inline image displaying

Top Pro

Quick notes from everywhere with a link

You can take quick notes everywhere, in desktop (using emacsclient), in browser (using plugin) or with a simple link. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

Emacs runs on all platforms, Windows, Linux, OSX, even Android and IOS. See More

Top Pro

Items can be tied to timeline

You can schedule date, time and also deadline for every item. Some items can reoccur in certain time periods (days, weeks, etc.), which makes it easy to use some org files, for example, to store friends' birthdays. See More

Top Pro

Cross platform

Emacs runs on all platforms, Windows, Linux, OSX, even Android and IOS See More

Top Pro

Fast interaction

Once muscle-memory sets in, can be much faster to use than a point & click program. See More

See All

Notes (formerly known as Bijiben)

MightyTamKung's Experience

Claims to sync with owncloud / nextcloud, but continually loses synchronization. Notes disappear, or don't show up. Impossible to organize notes - I don't see any way to create tags or folders. See More

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Turtl

Top Pro

Free and Open Source

Turtl is licensed under the GPLv3, which makes the application very transparent and encourages good practices. See More

Top Con

The project might be dead, development wise

iOS version has been 'any minute now' since nearly a year ago. Development seems to have all but stopped. See More

CourageousPodaga's Experience

This is not an application it is "Software as Service". See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac, Android

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. See More

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 account, unless you have a SIM in your laptop. If you already have the app open, then it is a non-issue, but say the app crashes, or you have to reboot your machine; no more notes - none. See More

HumbleHedylogos's Experience

does not work with linux Ubuntu 18 See More

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. See More

Top Con

Internet dependent

Requires Internet connection to initiate offline mode, loses access to notes without Internet or server. See More

TallApsat's Experience

Ubuntu desktop app is a pleasure to work with. Love the strong foundation in verifiable SW (Rust). See More

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. See More

Top Con

Installation & Permission Problems are common

Requires terminal commands to configure and root to run. See More

Top Pro

The Best 1 of 31 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for Turtl

My Recommendation for Turtl

Free and Open Source

The project might be dead, development wise

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

No offline access

Good security

Internet dependent

Supported on multiple platforms

Installation & Permission Problems are common

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

Note sharing functionality

30 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for Joplin

My Recommendation for Joplin

Offline access

Sync issue under Linux

Open source

Gargantuan memory footprint

Encryption

Old school interface

Cross-platform

Bloated

Supports file attachments

App Image launches very slowly

Supports markdown

Sync issues on Windows

Supports tags for notes

Weak tag searching

Web Clipper

Can't create tags from the mobile app

Optional CLI interface

Supports multiple languages

Active user forum with support from app creators

Dropbox support

Nextcloud support

Timed alarm reminder for to-do lists

My Recommendation for Simplenote

My Recommendation for Simplenote

Markdown support via web interface

No support for file attachments

Very simple and clean interface

Unencrypted at rest

Works offline

Requires that you sign up for an account

Linux client available

No way to bulk-apply a tag

"Time machine" style revision control on the notes

Only Online use

Desktop app is open source

No 32-bit version

Geared towards fast usage

The search function doesn't see tags

Shared Notes

No note groupings

Search is limited to one tag

My Recommendation for Tomboy

My Recommendation for Tomboy

Can't easily install on Windows 7

Links

Free and open source

My Recommendation for QOwnNotes

My Recommendation for QOwnNotes

Can be synced with Nextcloud/Owncloud Notes

Markdown support

Simple plain text files

Native app - not electron based

Plain text storage - easy access to, backup of, etc, files wi

Scriptable

You can manage your bookmarks inside your browser in local markdown files

My Recommendation for Logseq

My Recommendation for Logseq

Structured data over willy-nilly formatting

Still in Alpha

Networked notes

Multi screen has issues

Privacy-first

Writing long form documents

Open source