When comparing Nirvana vs Joplin, the Slant community recommends Joplin for most people. In the question“What are the best cross-platform task apps?” Joplin is ranked 5th while Nirvana is ranked 49th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Streamlined for Getting Things Done
Designed specifically for the Getting Things Done methodology as created by David Allen.
Pro One of only few faithful implementation of GTD approach
The Nirvana approach is one of the few that successfully encapsulates the spirit of Getting Things Done.
Pro Flexible structure for simple to complex usages and workflows
Pro Clean layout
It has a very simple, understated design.
Pro Useful history of actions
Nirvana offers a chronological look at completed tasks that is good for reporting and improving future estimations. That said, it could be improved by incorporating a true journal view rather than a simple list broken up by week.
Pro Offline access
Pro Open source
Peace of mind that there is no malicious piece of software in the app.
Pro Encryption
Pro Cross-platform
Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.
Pro Supports file attachments
Pro Supports markdown
Pro Supports tags for notes
Pro Web Clipper
Browser extension saves full pages, clean content, or screen selections to new notes.
Pro Optional CLI interface
Provides a CLI interface for terminal lovers.
Pro Supports multiple languages
English, French, and Spanish, Italian, German, Czech and many others.
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.
Pro Dropbox support
Can sync using Dropbox.
Pro Nextcloud support
Pro Timed alarm reminder for to-do lists
Cons
Con No native OS X & Windows apps
There are currently no native apps for Windows or OS X, although the company has claimed to be working on them.
Con The Pro service tier still does not have common features
Common features such as notifications and sharing between applications aren't available, even in the Pro-tier. Its only native integration with other applications is adding tasks via a specialized email address generated for your account.
Con Sync issues with Android
If update on Linux then sync on Android, sometimes the Android sync will duplicate or remove some journal notes. Seems to be a bug in the Android app. The Linux app alone without sync with Android seems to work well using Dropbox. But don't expect changes you make on Android to sync properly back to Linux.
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.
Con Gargantuan memory footprint
1GB+ of memory for taking notes.
Con Old school interface
Con Bloated
This project is suffering from feature creep and uses a lot of memory for a note-taking app.
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.
Con Sync issues on Windows
No way to change account settings and sync easily corrupted.
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.