Any recommendations for a self hosted note taking app that runs on everything with a screen and is designed for multi device usage?
Also a modern, powerful and puristic UI would be a must have to compete with Keep.
I am looking for this app every now and then but am always disappointed by the choices.
I recently tried Joplin on Android, but was very dissatisfied with the usabilty.
The FOSS self hosted alternatives for smart home and porn are better than the commercial ones, can’t be that hard for notes, can it?
self hosted alternatives for smart home and porn
How does self hosted porn even work and how am I the first person to notice that sitting there and mention it?
No way!
Honestly, the closest I have found is https://github.com/baggachipz/tinylist It looks like keep, can share and edit files with other people, which is something a lot of things are lacking and I use it extensively for that. Also, I don’t like the recommendations of using MD apps/files for a simple checklist/random notes app. That’s way too much for something this simple and I use Obsidian as well. But they serve much different purposes.
It allows you to host your own database for it, and there is a guide on it.
No dockerhub image is a dealbreaker. Especially for Unraid
Looks like you can host your own database and tie the web app to that. I’m going to try it later today with my unRAID server.
I’m a big fan of Logseq. I use Syncthing to sync a folder between my desktop and phone and it works great. Tagging, everything is in markdown, and it’s easy to navigate around.
For the record, I also found that turtl is FOSS and seems to have a decent UI. I will give it a try.
In another comment you complained about the latest commit being made 7 years ago. Just a heads up, this project also seems pretty abandoned.
Did you try it?
Memos is self hostable and is “cross platform” by nature of being web-based only. There is a 3rd party mobile app MoeMemos but it doesn’t add anything special over the quite excellent progressive web app for plain Memos. Of course you can’t use it offline since it’s web-based. But I have an always on VPN connection between my phone and my server so home so it’s fine.
Notesnook is recently open source, but as of yet not self hostable. It is on the roadmap though. This one is privacy/security oriented and has native apps for just about everything as well as a web interface.
Quillpad is the closest interface-wise to Keep, but it can only sync with Nextcloud and I can’t run that beast on my old hardware. Too clunky and slow.
I’ve been on this hunt for awhile but I realized that I use Keep differently than other folks on the same journey. It’s mostly a list focused service for me. Sometimes with check boxes, sometimes not. Most of the FOSS not taking apps can use some markdown, but that is a bear to use on mobile without a quick way to inject a checkbox. Memos has a button for a few formatting items on each “post” and thankfully one is the Markdown checkbox shortcut.
For notes, personal knowledge management, and everything else I use and love Obsidian.
I really like Quillpad on mobile. I have my own Nextcloud instance and it works great. I only wish that Nextcloud Notes/Quillpad allowed for a few more levels in its notebook/notes hierarchy for better categorization.
I’ve tried Obsidian/Logseq with Folder Sync As a companion app and just didn’t like the clunkiness of it.
100% agree on clunkiness of homebrew sync option for Obsidian. I ended up paying for their sync service, which is expensive for what it is. But I use it a ton and it’s saved me so much time that I feel it’s worth it. And it’s about as flawless a sync option as their is.
I would also use Quillpad if they offered another sync option.
I’ve been using Logseq and syncing via syncthing, but you can sync with any file syncing service
This is the way.
I’m using Logseq and syncthing across Windows, Linux and Android. Works well.
The TODO / DOING / DONE option works well for me for checklists and the on the fly linking is amazing.
One of the main things I feel is missing is there doesn’t seem to be a way to view and track all tasks in all your pages, I generally like tasks to live with the relevant info rather than in the journals. Do you know if there’s a way to get something like that?
Yes, look at the TODO / DOING (virtual) pages.
There’s also a Todo plugin (desktop version only at the mo), but I didn’t get on with it.
Mind sharing what were your issues with Joplin?
My only issue is that it does not have any widgets on Android. So, I use Nextcloud Notes when I need that. But Joplin is actually great. You can self host a joplin server or sync using a Nextcloud server. It supports advanced markdown and I like the UI as well.
You can try Bookstack, but it will work on a web browser only. Another option is Obsidian, but I think only the apps are FOSS, the backend is not.
Obsidian isn’t FOSS at all, sadly.
Though, they’re not the data-hungry kind of proprietary, or use some proprietary format. It’s basically just a really fancy markdown editor with plugin support. No telemetry, no accounts, and sync can be self-hosted.
I like Joplin too, and I use it when I can instead of Keep. It supports a pretty good range of synchronization mechanisms. But it doesn’t have the collaboration capability of Keep, so when I’m doing shared shopping lists or to do lists, I still end up using Keep.
I think Joplin is the best too, but I wish they will rewrite their app using Tauri or flutter for better performance and native app integration. Feature wise it is the best one that is FOSS.
What about Obsidian?
I actually stumbled upon it, but even though they have an active github account and there is an Arch Linux package, the software is proprietary. So I would rather patch the FOSS alternatives to my desire.
I’ve had success with Standard Notes personally. I’ve just used the basic default server, but I know you can self host it. Best of luck!!
I second Standard Notes. My focus is very geared towards privacy and security and Standard Notes excels at that as well.
…ssh and vim?
Editing a file with vim though ssh on mobile seems like a pain.
I’ve done it a fair bit and it’s actually pretty painless. If you know how to use vim you save a ton of keystrokes, which makes a big difference on mobile.
I don’t believe this for a single second
Lol
Notesnook, whenever they release self hosting.
Nextcloud and Quillpad is decent.
whenever they release self hosting.
Are there any plans? I just got their 70% off on subscription and I like it, but it would be great if there’d be a self hosted server.
Self hosting is currently in progress
This is great. And I don’t regret paying the subscription.
Try Carnet it is exactly what Google Keep does but a nextcloud hosted App with mobile apps.
