Obsidian is described as 'Note-taking app that lets you create a personal knowledge graph with ease. It is designed for non-linear thinking and allows you to easily link your notes together wiki-style' and is a leading Note-taking tool in the office & productivity category. There are more than 100 alternatives to Obsidian for a variety of platforms, including Web-based, Mac, Windows, Linux and Android apps. The best Obsidian alternative is Logseq, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Obsidian are Zettlr, Joplin, Anytype and sNotes – Students Notes.
Powerful online word processor with real-time collaboration, document conversion from Word, extensive formatting options, revision history, and multilingual capabilities, all integrated within the Google Drive ecosystem, accessible through any internet-connected device.
Zim brings the concept of a wiki to your desktop. Store information, link pages and edit with WYSISYG markup or directly typing some lightweight markup syntax and see it previewed as-you-type. Creating a new page is easy by either clicking on the "Create new note"...
Zim has all of the same basic features as Obsidian, but it uses far less system resources. Both allow you to download and write plugins, such as advanced pasting (to fix carriage returns when copying pdf text). Both are themable.
Additionally, it's open-source, unlike Obsidian.
Zim was a pioneer that's now considered an oldtimer, while Obsidian takes much of its features and brings it into 2020+. Obsidian is more "wiki" than Zim, but it uses a different terminology. I've completely migrated from Zim (and CherryTree) to Obsidian.
I've used ZIM for years. It is all offline on Linux, Mac and Windows, and is therefore much faster than online platforms. Used with Dropbox etc it can sync between your devices, but if you need IOS or Android access look elsewhere.
Cloud-based, open-source note-taking app supporting plain text notes, lists, and ideas with real-time sync, multi-device support, version history, markdown, tagging, collaborative editing, no ads, and free registration required for all cloud features.
Simplenote is love. You must try it once. I have SimpleNote installed on my Mac, Windows, Linux, Android and iPad. It works on all browsers and all operating systems. It is so easy to take notes and have them sync across all devices and web. It is so easy to quickly get to your notes. I can't live without simplenote as I have so much dependency on this simple tool. Simplenote really makes it simpler to organize 'note taking' task.
The most prominent feature of Obsidian is bi-directional linking between notes. Simplenote is more akin to sticky notes; they aren't really similar at all.
Its too simple and is focused on simplicity unlike obsiidian
Hierarchical note-taking software that is free, open-source, cross-platform. Features include rich text, syntax highlighting, multi-level lists, embedded files, customizable interface, code execution, PDF export, spell check, images & tables, and comprehensive project management support.
Kind of the same thing? More of a hierarchical note taker, but it runs locally, is super stable, and keeps you organized, so if you don't need all the bells and whistles, this'll get the job done.
Its not an alternate to Obsidian which is mainly giving you advanced Markdown format, while CherryTree his simply its own format.
However, its an awesome notes taking software. I really like its Tree structured interface for arranging your notes.
CryptPad is a private-by-design alternative to popular office tools and cloud services. All the content stored on CryptPad is encrypted before being sent, which means nobody can access your data unless you give them the keys.
Open-source, privacy-focused workspace combining note-taking, project and task management, Kanban board, interactive whiteboard, Pomodoro timer, Markdown support, offline access, real-time team collaboration with @mentions, goal tracking, subtasks, and customizable features.
SiYuan is a desktop Markdown Block-Reference and Bidirectional-Link note-taking application. Support fine-grained block-level reference and Markdown WYSIWYG.
I honestly think SiYuan is the closest to Obisdian as an alternative compared to all other apps.
WYSIWYG is far more important than I thought. Besides, the data in SiYuan is .json, which allows better redering-performance and Notion-like typesetting.
WYSIWYG, better rendering performance
GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more. At its core is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp programming language with extensions to support text editing. The features of GNU Emacs include:
Desktop note app stores plain markdown files with YAML, supports offline-first use, integrated Git repositories for full history, native Claude AI and Codex CLI integration, open source, portable data, keyboard-driven interface, no proprietary lock-in.
Plain text notepad with markdown support and todo list manager for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, that works together with the notes application of ownCloud.
Pretty similar concept, both deal with plain .md files, both render in real time, both have automatically-generated TOCs, etc., but QOwnNotes is Free Software, no EULA non-sense, you have a tool without restrictions.
Open-source wiki and documentation solution offering real-time collaborative editing, robust permissions, group management, spaces for organizing content, inline commenting, full-page history, advanced full-text search, nested pages, attachments, and flexible storage.
A note taking application isn't the same as a knowledge management application, even if both allow you to take notes.
OpenSnitch says it connects to a google owned website.
United States
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More collaborative, sync by design.