Currently I’m using Joplin with Syncthing-backed file system synchronization. I’m pretty pleased with it, as I do like tagging- and Markdown-based systems.
I plan to upgrade to server-based synchronization, but before doing that, however, I wanted to see what other people are using.
Edit: So far I see a slight favor towards Joplin and Logseq, but I totally didn’t expect (and appreciate) getting so many different answers.
Logseq, it’s a lot like Obsidian as it also has knowledge graphs, tags, is markdown-based and self-hostable but, in contrast to Obsidian, it’s fully open source
Logseq user here too.
However, for a quick, transitory note, I use Kate or, more recently, Xpad. Only then I transcribe the content to Logseq. Why?
Because while Logseq is great as an outliner and for network thinking, it’s as graceful and agile as an elephant.
The gist of what I’m saying is: for now, and for me (hardware might be playing a role here, but I don’t think so) Logseq is a good note database. For quick typing, I have to use something else.
Unsaved n++ tabs
Obsidian is where I landed after trying several.
Just tried it for a bit. Looks pretty sleek and has some nice features, but it seems like it’s not open-source, which is something I’d like to avoid.
Then Logseq. It’s an outliner (each line can be it’s own…thing…), but it’s open source and a direct competitor of Obsidian. In fact, I was ambivalent between the two when I first started with online note-taking.
Joplin. Obsidian is not open source, doesn’t have native self hosting and it gets complicated. Joplin is very simple and just works. Although, it stores the notes in a hashed database, so you can’t edit raw files without Joplin client
Trilium for the same reasons, but the featureset of Trilium is more like Obsidian.
Trillium was originally created to be an open source replacement for Roam Research. Trilium came out in 2017, and had Roam-like features before Roam even existed. It’s similarities to Obsidian are purely coincidental, probably because Obsidian is designed to be a cross between Roam and Evernote.
Please, I don’t want to be rude, so don’t take me wrong.
I think that’s not accurate. Trillium is not even an outliner, let alone a block note taking app. I think you’re mixing trillium with Logseq.
My memory may be failing me, but I think trillium has been around longer than Roam Research.
And yes, it’s a great open source note taking app!
Problem with Joplin: The raw files are randomly named so you can’t easily find a specific note
Obsidian. I know it’s not open source, but it just felt right.
Just fyi notesnook is not really “zero knowledge”. They’re misusing that term.
I didn’t make that claim though. Regardless, that wouldn’t matter in a self-host situation.
Yep just swapped over from a self hosted solution with gitlab and sublime… But that was to restrictive and the overall experience wasnt really good…
I then found a post somewhere on lemmy a post abotu PKMS and what people are using… One was obsidian… So I tried it and I’m really happy
Edit: I saw some comments about some missing self hosting. Since the notes are saved as standard md files you easily ca sync them with whatever you want… I set it up with my synology NAS and DS Drive, but any tool which can sync two-ways should be fine
Not being open source is the great… sin for me. Note taking is an investment in the future, and betting on a closed source platform is a big no no—for me, that is.
I know the content is safe in Obsidian, since it’s just Markdown files. But the workflow? Not so much.
And I know the developers behind Obsidian have their reasons to close source it. Nothing against that. But since that’s their way, it’s not my way.