Best open-source alternatives to Microsoft OneNote

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.

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.

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.

TiddlyWiki is a personal web notebook and interactive wiki designed for people who want a flexible, self-contained place to store and organize information. It can be used as a single HTML file in the browser, which makes it portable and easy to keep for long-term use, or as a Node.js application for more advanced client/server setups. The project is aimed at users who want a highly customizable note-taking and knowledge-management tool, as well as developers who want to extend or adapt the interface. Its UI is built in WikiText, allowing the whole application to be modified in a hackable way. The README also points users to a live demo, community forums, and developer documentation.

SilverBullet is a self-hosted personal knowledge management platform aimed at users who want a browser-based workspace for notes, writing, and lightweight knowledge organization. It presents content as Markdown pages in a “Space,” and combines note-taking with wiki-style linking, outlining, task management, and simple database-like objects and queries. The project is especially suited to people who want more than a static markdown editor: it includes a programmable layer based on Lua for generating content and building custom commands, templates, and widgets. The README also indicates that SilverBullet has both a frontend and backend, with the client written in TypeScript and the server in Go, and it can be built and run locally or packaged into a Docker container.

Blinko is an AI-powered note-taking project aimed at individuals who want a fast way to capture and organize fleeting thoughts. It focuses on turning quick ideas into stored notes that can later be retrieved through natural-language queries powered by AI and RAG-style search. The project is positioned as self-hosted, giving users control over their data and keeping notes within their own environment. It supports plain-text note capture with Markdown formatting and is presented as a lightweight, multi-platform application built with Tauri, with support for macOS, Windows, Android, and Linux. The README also highlights a live demo, documentation site, and one-line Docker-based installation.

Standard Notes is an encrypted note-taking application aimed at people who want a secure, durable place to store notes, files, and other important writing. It emphasizes privacy through end-to-end encryption and cross-device sync, and it presents itself as suitable for both personal use and professional workflows. The project also supports self-hosting and a web-based deployment path, allowing users to run the web app from static files behind their own server. Beyond note taking, it includes publishing capabilities through Listed and supports third-party extensions/plugins, making it more than a basic notes app. The README positions it as a platform for long-term, private writing and publishing rather than just a simple editor.

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.

Zim is a graphical desktop editor designed for maintaining a personal or small-team wiki of linked pages. It stores content as plain text files in a folder hierarchy, making it suitable for note-taking, journaling, meeting notes, task organization, brainstorming, and drafting short documents like blog entries or emails. The project is aimed at users who want a lightweight local knowledge base with wiki-style navigation rather than a hosted web app. It can be installed through distribution packages or built from source, and it supports extensibility through plugins for features such as task lists, equations, system tray integration, and version control.

flatnotes is a self-hosted note-taking web app aimed at users who want a simple, distraction-free way to manage markdown notes. It avoids a traditional database and instead stores content directly as files in a folder, which makes the notes portable and easy to edit outside the app. The project focuses on a clean interface with features such as search, tagging, markdown editing, wikilinks, and theme customization. It is designed for people who want a lightweight personal knowledge base that can be run locally or self-hosted, with support for several authentication modes and a REST API for integration.

Note Mark is a web-based Markdown notes application designed to provide a fast, minimal writing experience with a sleek responsive interface. It appears aimed at users who want a simple note-taking system with Markdown rendering, clean URLs, and a modern editor rather than a large, complex knowledge-management suite. The project supports notebook sharing, asset uploads, and multiple views of a note, including rendered and plain-text modes. It also includes HTML sanitisation for XSS protection, dark and light themes, and OIDC single-sign-on support. The README indicates it uses a custom flat-file storage system and points users to online documentation and a demo video.

OpenHabitTracker is a privacy-focused note, task, and habit app designed for people who want their personal data stored locally on their own device. It presents itself as free, ad-free, and open source, and it is available across desktop, mobile, and web platforms. The project centers on Markdown-based note taking with organization tools such as categories, priorities, search, filtering, and sorting. It also supports data exchange through import and export formats including JSON, YAML, TSV, and Markdown, plus import from Google Keep. The README indicates multiple runtime targets, including Blazor WASM, Blazor Server, MAUI, Photino.Blazor, WinForms, and WPF, and provides Docker and Docker Compose deployment details for a one-user server setup.

Plainpad is a self-hosted note taking application designed for users who want to keep their notes on infrastructure they control. The README emphasizes simplicity, stability, and data ownership, positioning the project as a lightweight personal knowledge or note management tool rather than a hosted SaaS product. It is intended to run on a user's own server and is set up through Docker Compose. The project appears to be straightforward to deploy and operate, with the README specifically noting compatibility with Windows, WSL, and Docker. Its open-source GPL v3 licensing and self-hosted nature suggest it is aimed at individuals or teams seeking a private, self-managed notes solution.

Many Notes is a web-based Markdown note-taking application built around the concept of vaults. It is aimed at users who want a simple self-hosted system for capturing, organizing, and retrieving notes while keeping both database-backed functionality and filesystem-based file storage for portability. The project supports multiple users and multiple vaults per user, with authentication options that include local accounts and several OAuth providers. It also includes collaboration features, real-time broadcasting, search, a tree-view explorer, Markdown editing tools, templates, PDF export, import/export for vault backups, and a progressive web app experience. The README recommends running it behind an HTTPS reverse proxy for improved security and to enable additional browser features.

EveryDocs Core is the server-side application behind EveryDocs, a document management system intended for private use. It provides the backend that stores documents, manages metadata, supports folder organization, and powers search and account creation for the accompanying web interface. The project is aimed at users who want a self-hosted way to manage PDF documents digitally. It exposes a REST API for CRUD operations on documents, folders, people, and processing states, and it uses JSON Web Token authentication. The README also describes encrypted storage for PDFs, full-text search based on extracted PDF content, and deployment options via Docker, Docker Compose, or manual Rails-based installation.

Tsuzuri is a terminal notebook application for working with Markdown-based notes. It is aimed at users who want an editor-like experience in the terminal while keeping their notes as ordinary Markdown files that remain portable and compatible with other tools. The project presents itself as a block-based workspace with features such as a file tree, tabs, live preview, and rich note elements like tables, callouts, boards, calendars, timelines, charts, and forms. It is distributed as a single binary for macOS, Windows, and Linux, with installation supported via scripts, manual release downloads, or Go-based installation. Because notes are stored as files and there is no database, it is well suited to people who want a local, lightweight, git-friendly notebook.

Writer is a desktop application for people who manage markdown content inside a workspace. It is positioned as a fast, lightweight tool that keeps documents on disk rather than in an external cloud store, making it suitable for local note-taking or project documentation workflows. The app is built with Tauri, React, Zustand, CodeMirror, and Rust. The README highlights capabilities such as honoring workspace .gitignore rules, supporting multiple windows, and rendering richer markdown content including tables and Mermaid diagrams. It also mentions a signed macOS release process and an updater, suggesting it is intended as a polished desktop experience for self-managed files.

Opensidian is a cross-platform markdown notes application designed to be compatible with Obsidian vaults while reimplementing Obsidian-like behavior from scratch. It is presented as an open-source, non-profit project licensed under GPLv3 and built with Rust and Tauri v2. The project targets users who want a local notes app with familiar features such as live preview, wikilinks, backlinks, graph view, themes, tabs, splits, and plugin/theme support. The README emphasizes Linux distribution packages and source builds, and it also describes community plugin handling, restricted mode, and secure secret storage through the system keyring.

BinPastes is a simple pastebin project aimed at self-hosters who want a lightweight notes and paste service. It presents itself as a straightforward alternative for storing notes with searchable content, expiration controls, and configurable exposure/visibility settings. The project emphasizes ease of deployment through a single binary and a minimal setup process. For production use, it is configured to run with MySQL and Java 21+, with database connection details provided through an application properties file. It also includes client-side encryption and a dark mode, suggesting it is designed for privacy-conscious users and an accessible web UI.

Writing is a lightweight Markdown editor designed to run directly in the browser with a minimal, distraction-free interface. It is aimed at people who want a simple writing environment with live preview, especially those who value speed and a clean layout over feature-heavy online editors. The project emphasizes local use without a server, and the README states that it can run offline by simply opening the `index.html` file. It includes support for writing, previewing, saving source as a Markdown file, and printing or exporting to PDF, along with conveniences like display mode toggling and a help overlay. The project is open source under the MIT license and relies on bundled frontend libraries such as Pagedown and MathJax to provide editing and math rendering capabilities.