Best open-source alternatives to Evernote

Memos is an open-source, self-hosted note-taking application designed for quick capture and lightweight personal knowledge management. It is aimed at users who want a simple, timeline-first interface for creating Markdown notes without the overhead of folders or complex organization. The project emphasizes portability and self-hosting: notes are stored in Markdown, the app can be deployed with a single Go binary or via Docker, and it supports SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. It also presents itself as extensible through documented REST and gRPC APIs, making it suitable for integrations and custom workflows.

Joplin is an open source note-taking and task management application aimed at people who want to organize a large volume of notes in notebooks and work with them in Markdown. It supports searching, tagging, editing, and importing content from Evernote or plain Markdown files, making it useful for users migrating from other tools or maintaining text-based note libraries. The project is designed with an offline-first approach, so data remains available on the user’s devices even without internet access. For those who want cross-device synchronization, Joplin can securely sync with cloud services such as Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Joplin Cloud using end-to-end encryption. It also offers full-text search, customization through plugins and themes, and companion apps across major desktop and mobile platforms.

SiYuan is a personal knowledge management system designed around privacy and local control. It targets individuals who want to organize notes and knowledge using block-based editing, fine-grained references, and a Markdown-based WYSIWYG workflow rather than a traditional document-only model. The project emphasizes a broad feature set that includes large-document editing, databases, flashcards, export options, snippets, OCR, and an API for extension and integration. It also has a wider ecosystem of companion apps and components for mobile, desktop, marketplace content, and data repositories, suggesting it is aimed at users who want a cross-platform knowledge workspace with both local and deployment-oriented options.

Logseq is an open-source knowledge management and collaboration platform aimed at people who want a privacy-focused way to organize notes, tasks, and related information. It supports common note formats such as Markdown and Org-mode, and it emphasizes user control, longevity, and extensibility through plugins and themes. The README presents Logseq as suitable for students, professionals, and anyone managing personal or team knowledge workflows. It is available as a desktop application, has a web version for testing the DB version, and includes mobile apps. The DB version adds graph-based data, a new sync approach called RTC for real-time collaboration, and automated or SQLite database backup guidance because the feature set is still in beta/alpha.

Outline is a team knowledge base application whose source code is hosted in this repository. The README presents it as a collaborative product for organizing internal documentation, and it points users to a hosted version at getoutline.com for trying the service without self-hosting. The repository is mainly intended for people who want to run their own copy of Outline or contribute to development. The README directs operators to the hosting documentation for production setup and to a separate local-development guide for contributors. It also mentions debugging, testing, and database migrations, indicating that the project is a full-stack application with a server-side component and a frontend built around React and Node.js.

Open Notebook is a self-hosted, privacy-focused notebook application positioned as an alternative to Google NotebookLM. It is intended for people who want to keep research and source materials under their own control while still using modern AI workflows to organize, search, and transform information. The project supports a wide range of content types, including PDFs, videos, audio, web pages, and office documents, and it can work with many AI providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, and LM Studio. Users can create notebooks, search across their content, chat with context, and generate multi-speaker podcasts. The README emphasizes deployment flexibility, with Docker-based setup, local AI via Ollama, and a full REST API for automation.

Trilium Notes is a cross-platform note-taking application aimed at people who want to build and manage large personal knowledge bases. It organizes content into deep hierarchical trees and supports placing a note in multiple locations, which makes it useful for structuring related information without duplicating it. The project positions itself as free and open source, with desktop, browser, and mobile access options. The application combines a rich editor, code note support, search, versioning, encryption, scripting, and visual note types such as maps and canvas sketches. It also supports synchronization through a self-hosted server, sharing notes publicly, and automation through a REST API. The README mentions OpenID and TOTP-based login, a mobile frontend, and third-party Android/iOS clients for offline use and server sync.

Khoj is a personal AI application designed to extend a user’s capabilities as a "second brain." It combines conversational AI, document retrieval, semantic search, and agent creation so people can work with their own notes, files, and online information in one place. The project is aimed at individual users as well as teams and enterprises, with support for self-hosting, a cloud app, and enterprise deployment models. It can be used from multiple clients such as browsers, note-taking apps, desktop, mobile, and chat platforms, and it supports both local and online LLMs. The README emphasizes privacy and flexibility, highlighting that it can run on a personal computer or be accessed through the hosted service.

Karakeep is a self-hostable bookmark manager designed for people who save articles, tools, notes, images, and PDFs for later review. It combines traditional read-it-later features with AI-assisted organization so users can automatically tag, summarize, and search across saved content. The project is aimed at self-hosting enthusiasts and power users who want more control over their reading backlog than a typical cloud bookmark service provides. It supports collaboration on shared lists, browser extensions and mobile apps for quick capture, offline mobile reading, RSS hoarding, OCR, archival to reduce link rot, and integration with browser bookmarks. It also exposes a REST API and supports SSO, making it suitable for more structured team or personal knowledge workflows.

Linkwarden is a self-hosted, open-source bookmark manager built for people who want to collect, organize, and preserve web content in one place. It targets individuals and teams who need more than a basic “read later” app, combining bookmarking with archiving and annotation so saved pages remain useful even if the original content changes or disappears. The project stores screenshots, PDFs, and single-page HTML copies of saved webpages, and it offers a reader view for highlighting and notes. It also supports sharing and collaboration, with member permissions, public link sharing, multi-user use, API keys, browser sync integrations, uploads, RSS subscriptions, and mobile apps. An official cloud offering is available, but the README emphasizes self-hosting as an alternative.