Notes alternatives

Alternatives to: OneNote, EverNote

Notes apps are a great way of recording and organising everyday stuff. You can build up a personal knowledge system.

And because it's personal, all the more reason to keep that information away from Big Tech.


App name Open Source Structure; Business model Features Country of origin Link
Obsidian Mostly Private company; Freemium E2EE (Encrypted); Excellent apps; Great markdown notebook Canada Obsidian.com
Standard Notes Yes Private company; Freemium E2EE (Encrypted); Lots of note types incl. markdown and spreadsheet USA StandardNotes.com
Joplin Yes Free Open Source; Donations Good features; Regular updates UK / Open Source Joplinapp.org
Notesnook Yes Private company; Freemium E2EE Pakistan Notesnook.com
anytype Yes Non-profit; Freemium Combination of Notion, Obsidian and Standard Notes features; Many object types incl. Kanban Switzerland Anytype.io
Capacities No Private company; Freemium Notion alternative Germany Capacities.io
Tana No Private company; Freemium Notion alternative USA Tana.inc
Fibery No Private company; Freemium Combination of Notion and Airtable features Poland Fibery.io
Nuclino No Private company; Freemium Notion alternative Germany Nuclino.com

RTA's choice

We use Obsidian and Standard Notes for day to day tasks, and are looking into using Capacities or Tana for knowledge maps.


Next up:

➡️ Media Consumption alternatives