Hello everyone, I’d like your recommendations for a note taking app that:
- Can be selfhosted
- Stores the notes as plain text or *.md files, not some SQL database.
- Can use Marddown format.
- Have an android client or at least a mobile optimized web-interface.
- Not a must but it would be nice to have a to-do list option.
I tried:
- Trilium: use an encrypted litesql to store the notes.
- Joplin: does not encrypt the notes, but store them in random named directories, making ot harder finding the notes.
- Logseq: No firefox support, I did not check how it stores itsdatabase.
- Standard note: Needs subscription to selfhost or to even use markdown format, otherwise it is a heavy text editor.
- Memos: does not store plain files, instead uses a (sqlite probably) database even when setting local filesystem as current object storage.
- CodiMD: use database to store its notes
- Hedgedoc: the same as above
- Silverbulet.md: This is what I will end up using if Obsidian + syncthing was not for me,It is minimal without losing much features and can be enhanced with plug-ins. . It does need a bit of getting used to and it does not have an android app but can it can be run as PWA that runs offline. The only downside is it does clutter your note directory with a bunch of dot files (if you decided to install plug-ins).
The closest I found so far is Obsidian, which:
- Unfortunately, does not have any selfhosting option.
- Have a client app on every platform and store.
- Can use a custom directory to store it database as plain text files, which can be a network mounted directory (on my laptop/desktop) or a directory on my android phone that i will have to keep synchronized using a third party app.
- I used “Remotely Save by fyears” which allows you to synchronize local obsidian note directory with a cloud directory (onedrive, dropbox, webdav…), It requires webdav for self-hosted options, kinda forcing you to use a 3th party service to run a 3rd party plug-in so you can use Obsidian with your home server directory. On top of that It can only use a folder on the root of the webdave server (say /notes instead of /documents/notes).
- I used syncthing initially to sync my Notes directory but I ended up using it to keep a buch of directories in sync across all my devices. Leaving you to use whatever app you like on any device, not just Obsidian.
Edit: March-2nd: added memos, codimd, hedgedoc Edit: March-9th, It has been a busy week and I could not do much. I added silverbullet and both syncthing adn remotly-save for obsidian. I’m using now Silverbullet and Obsidian+syncthing until I decide on one. Thank you everyone who helped me choosing.
You sound like me from last month. I strongly recommend silverbullet, check it out on https://silverbullet.md
- Can be selfhosted
Check, even has a simple docker compose
- Stores the notes as plain text or *.md files, not some SQL database.
Check, it does have an SQL database, but it’s used for queries, you can even copy or modify MD files at will
- Can use Marddown format.
Check, it’s a superset of markdown that includes queries for cool stuff like create tables that group data from other pages
- Have an android client or at least a mobile optimized web-interface.
Check, it has a PWA that works offline and syncs when back online. Note that this means that all files will be on your device if you use it like that, but that’s expected.
- Not a must but it would be nice to have a to-do list option.
Check, like I mentioned you can query all tasks on all pages and even do filters based on several factors, like where the task is defined or extra attributes that you set to them, e.g. priority.
Edit: bonus points:
- The main developer is active here https://lemmy.world/post/11816898
- Also he’s very active on discord and always answering questions
- Easily extensible with plugins and simple JavaScript functions, e.g. very easy to write a function to import a section of a page
- You can have multiple instances in sync with syncthing (just exclude the databases from syncing)
PWA that works offline and syncs when back online. Note that this means that all files will be on your device
Someone else mentioned Silverbullet, I hosted on my home server and it looks promising, here are a few thing I will need to explore:
- The PWA sound like a feature I was hoping, i will need to check it out
- Is there any android client rather than using the web-interface that firefox wont let me connect to remotely without a valid certificat.
- While it looks easy to use markup language using
/, I’m wondering is there is a plugin that add a tool bar or a client app that does have it.
Thank you for your comment
Is there any android client rather than using the web-interface that firefox wont let me connect to remotely without a valid certificat.
No, I use the PWA, i.e. access the page on your phone and as long as it’s https it will prompt you to install it. Personally I just used a tailscale network to get past the https authorisation, this also allows me to access it outside of my house so win-win
While it looks easy to use markup language using
/, I’m wondering is there is a plugin that add a tool bar or a client app that does have it.Didn’t understood, this is just a markdown file, you can just type things, no need to have buttons to add text.
Check, it has a PWA that works offline and syncs when back online.
I am either an idiot or that is not working for me on my android phone. I have used PWAs before and I remember you can use them by tapping the “install” in the browser menu.
I installed Silverbullet via docker on my rpi4, but when I connect to it my browsers do not give me the option to install it as a PWA. I tried Mull, DuckDuckGo browser and even (gah!) Chrome.
I can only put a shortcut on my home screen, but that then goes to the IP of my rpi4 and when I am not online I cannot reach it.
Do I need to configure something that I forgot or is the shortcut on the home screen the “PWA”?
Only things served via https can be installed on Android.
Ah dang, had no idea. I see there’s instructions on how to make silver bullet accessible via internet through https. But I only need this locally in my home WiFi, not connected to outside internet. Is there an easy way to enable https for it without exposing it outside my home WiFi?
I use tailscale, that allows me to access it remotely securely and gets https. If you don’t want to do that it’s hard but doable to emit your own certificates, but the tailscale approach is a lot more simple.
Obsidian + Syncthing is what I’ve settled on. Not perfect, but the best I’ve used.
This is what I’m using and it’s perfect for my use case. Tried more elaborate setups and it just wasn’t worth it. I also use it with my household over LAN.
Same combo, can use it on android (and probably iOS), windows, linux; the plugins really extend Obsidian’s abilities.
I’ve used this for more than a year and can confirm it works really well.
Nextcloud with the “Notes” plugin and app.
https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-notes-secure-note-taking-integrated/
Nextcloud Notes is pretty good. Btw Joplin has an option for End-to-end encryption.
Obaidian + Syncthing will do the trick.
Obaidian + Syncthing will do the trick.
This will be my backup plan if nothing else work out.
I use obsidian with obsidian-livesync for selfhosting the notes. Works pretty well across linux, macos, ios so far
Obsidian is my favorite thus far. It sucks at checklists/Todo though. So I use Quillpad as a shopping list keeper and Tasks.org as my task management/Todo, both syncing to my self hosted Nextcloud instance.
I’m still on Obsidian Sync because I couldn’t get Syncthing to work reliably, but that was very early in my selfhosting journey, so I will try again.
I sync obsidian with my self hosted owncloud instance.
Self hosted obsidian live sync eorks very well. I use it on 3 devices each with a different OS. Super fast and responsive. I can see text appear almost as fast as Google docs when types on one device and watched from another.
I know obsidian itself is not FOSD but the files are markdown and you can easily back them up with your existing backup setup (seafile for me) and then open up the plain md files if needed for some reason
I’ll give it a go. The plain md files is exactly why I went with Obsidian in the first place. I just haven’t found a FOSS alternative that I like as much. Closest is Acreom but it’s not yet open source, on the roadmap though.
Coming back to this, I just realized I have Seafile syncing my Obsidian vault already. I know you said you’re using it for Backup, but have you tried to use it as the only sync solution for Obsidian? I like it so much because of how fast it is, so if it works well, I may just do that once my membership expires.
Seafile doesn’t have 2 way sync on android. Would probably work well enough for sync between two computers
How incredibly timely!
I’ll have to give it a go with a copy of my vault.
Oh wow, direct obsidian seafile sync sounds amazing.
It bypasses the android sync app and just syncs to the server directly! This is brilliant!
Main issue with live sync is if you have multiple users you need multiple sync servers. This will allow all your seafile users to sync right away which us amazing!
Lots of good suggestions. I’ve also used memos, but wasn’t a huge fan of how the notes were organized. Solid app and definitely worth a look.
https://github.com/usememos/memos
Edit: I’m holding out hope for when notesnook goes self-hosted.
Edit 2: after looking at my older instance I see they save the notes in a database and is not relevant to your question.
I use logseq. It has an Android app, and also desktop app (the latter being more complex). Also, it’s plain markdown.
But you have to sync the different devices yourself and be careful not to run two instances at the same time.
Logseq actually does not need to be run in a browser, there are apps for every system. It does not have any sync server to host though (so far) so you have to use syncthing or something to have your notes available between devices. It does store notes in .md format with clearly labelled names so you always have access to them.
It does have a learning curve and android apps still do have some bugs to iron out, but I started to really like it and use it as my bullet journal.
The whole system of linking notes and even singular text blocks works really well in my mind. I can write a quick note about my health in today’s journal file and tag it with #health and when I go to the health file it shows every mention of that tag from everywhere.
+1 on Logseq and Sync Thing.
Privat gitea server.
It’s not exactly what I think you’re looking for, but depending on what you are trying to do, maybe look at hackmd/codimd.
It’s more like Google docs meets markdown formatting. It’s goal is realtime collaboration but I’ve definitely used it for syncing todo lists with people.
Codimd is the self hostable version.
Oh, and I think there is a way to have it sync with a GitHub repo too, in case that is useful.
Links for convenience:
Looks great, I’m definitely checking it this weekend. Thank for the share
Nextcloud notes. They’ll sync as text filed between your devices. You can use markdown, and they have a mobile app.
Maybe you should try Anytype. It’s Open Source, encrypted, has applications for major OSes, provides synchronization, allows export of documents to Markdown and PDF. Sometimes it’s rough on the edges, but I think it has a potential.
Yes Joplin encrypts the notes.
