It was time to ditch Evernote YEARS ago. Obsidian is basically the best alternative.
this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Obsidian is a godsend. The sheer number of plugins gives you basically anything you could want.
It not being open-source is pretty much my only complaint lol
I'm really sad that they've confirmed they aren't interested in open source for Obsidian either :(
Logseq if anyone is wondering about open source alternative.
weird that it isn't on F-droid
It is on F-droid if you add the Izzydroid repo to the app.
No good way to use it across multiple devices is my deal breaker for obsidian.
I've been using Syncthing for this purpose. My notes are synced between a desktop, laptop, Android phone, and Android tablet. It took me forever to finally take the time to try Syncthing, and it's been nearly flawless.
You need Obsidian sync for that. It works awesome. It's not free.
This is why you don't buy in to subscriptions for every little thing.
Don't go to Notability. They went full asshole at the top of this last semester. Changed the entire interface as people were starting their first week of class. They nuked features that made note taking for class nice. They clearly don't respect their users and will most likely do the same thing again.
Standard Notes is fantastic, assuming that:
- you don’t need to collaborate in real-time with your notes (you can share them after the fact and there is a way to give multiple accounts edit access to the same note, but it looked complicated and I haven’t explored it)
- you primarily use a keyboard - mobile counts, even if you’re using speech to text or Scribble on iPad - rather than wanting a canvas to draw on.
- you’re not trying to upload documents and annotate them
StandardNotes has the following going for it:
- it’s FOSS
- it’s easily self-hostable
- it’s also offered as SaaS, and if you use that your notes are e2ee
- if you self-host you can still use the official mobile apps (but those are open source, too)
- it has a web app, mobile apps, desktop apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux
- there is a variety of editor plugins created by the community that can be used even if you use the free SaaS offering - check out https://github.com/jonhadfield/awesome-standard-notes for a list.
I’ve been using StandardNotes for a few years at this point (as a paid user on their 5 year plan, which no longer exists as far as I know) and have also developed an editor plugin for it.
StandardNotes (I compared it to SimpleNote when I tested it months ago):
- Doesn't support markdown without $ - simplenote does
- Doesn't support checkboxes without $ - simplenote does
- Doesn't even allow rich text without paying
- $119/year subscription
- Simplenote syncs faster
It calls itself FOSS but really, most of the important functionality is paid-only.
They shouldn't have started using it in the first place, as it is a proprietary APP that spies on everything the user puts into it.
Lots of mentions for Obsidian. I'll throw in my favorite for the past few years that's similar: Logseq! Check it out!
Standardnotes and Notesnook also good as well and they provide web app
plaintext .txt
I use the marksman language server with my neovim configuration. It makes a navigable wiki-ish system ^.^, especially when you set it up with completion.wiki.style = "file-path-stem" in the .marksman.toml ( see: here for what that does.
This, plus syncthing or git, works for syncing ^.^
Neither Joplin nor Obsidian do everything I want. Both have that feeling of pita open source app like Gimp. I still use Joplin but it isn't anywhere near perfect.
I like all these open source options. However, are there any for handwriting?
Joplin is very nice if, like me, you don't like product lock-in. The notes are structured and organised, but under the hood its basically just markdown. So exporting your notes to something else is no fuss.
I always felt that Evernote was a confusing mess line OneNote I would try to use it every couple years thinking it would different only to give up a little later and go back to Notepad++
What happened to Evermote? 😂 I used it so much when u was in uni, so sad
Simplenote is also great and cross platform.
They list Notion, but IMO Obsidian is the better path. Lack of offline access to data is a big risk to using Notion, and what made me switch to Obsidian after being bit by internet access issues keeping me from being able to use my notes during a critical meeting. Hard no for Notion ever since.
That depends. If Notion goes down that's a problem. If you can't access Notion because YOUR internet is down, I don't see you being productive at all. The issue is moot as Notion syncs everything locally, so you can access your latest notes. You just can't push any changes to the cloud until you have internet again.
The notes being sync’d locally is exactly what would have allowed me to remain productive for that meeting. It sounds like Notion has this ability today, which is good to hear. In this example local access wasn’t yet an option. This was a few years ago though, and I’ll stop bringing this up as a gap since it no longer applies.
Who is still using Evernote in 2023? Everyone I know is using either Notion or Google Keep.
you do not know any sane ppl it seems.
they are not using google keep, they are just too dumb to make decisions for another app or use notion because the other mamals in the herd use it. don't be like that. help them evolve into proper humans.
It is kinda hard to move on when you have hundreds of notes you know... I still haven't moved, but I have been using Obsidian only locally for so long.
Saber go brrr
I just remember things.