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 Mac, Web-based, 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.
The original trilium is transfered to this repo by its owner and the app continues to develop here as stated here: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium
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"...
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.
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.
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.
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.
SiYuan is a desktop Markdown Block-Reference and Bidirectional-Link note-taking application. Support fine-grained block-level reference and Markdown WYSIWYG.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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This is a very good candidate to be the Obsidian alternate. However, it has a steep learning curve.