Crowdsourced software recommendations

Zim Alternatives and Similar Software

Alternatives to Zim for Windows, Mac, Linux, Web, Android and more. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. This list contains a total of 25+ apps similar to Zim.

A desktop personal wiki with inline preview as-you-type and lots of plugins If your looking for more info about Zim like screenshots, reviews and comments you should visit our info page about it. Below you find the best alternatives.

The list of alternatives was last updated: 11/30/2018 12:40:00 PM

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Alternatives to Zim for all platforms with any license

Evernote

Evernote is a cross-platform, freemium app designed for note taking, organizing, and archiving. The app allows users to create a "note" which can be a piece of formatted text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo, or a handwritten "ink" note. Notes can also have file attachments. Notebooks can be added to a stack while notes can be sorted into a notebook, tagged, annotated, edited, given comments, searched, and exported as part of a notebook.
- Evernote does not provide capability to organize data for outlining/collection data. Evernote is based on tags (so it is rather "chaotic") and people looking for a more structured way to organize information, benefit from ZIM. Guest • Feb 2018 • 8 agrees and 1 disagrees
- Evernote is proprietary, closed source and stores user data in unencrypted format on web-facing US servers, which is terrible for privacy and security. They have been hacked in the past and are subject to US laws that force them to disclose data with authorities. They also refuse to support Linux operating systems. Their clients on Mac and Windows are very different and both lag significantly after about 500 notes are in the database. Evernote are the past. JohnFastman • May 2018 • 6 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Complicated, non-free. Zim is just OpenSource notes. fih10golts • May 2018 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees
Freemium $ $ $ Mac Windows Web Android iPhone ... Blackberry Windows S Android Tablet Windows Phone iPad Apple Watch Android Wear Kindle Fire Pebble
Cloud sync Works Offline Sync between devices Text formatting ... Export to iCalendar Google Drive integration IFTTT integration MarkDown support Nested Notebooks Works Offline Owncloud integration Sync with Owncloud PDF annotation Tag based Web clipper Add a feature

2299 Like
Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft OneNote, part of the Microsoft Office Suite , is a digital notebook application that gives people one place to gather notes and information. It also offers shared notebooks, syncing between multiple computers and devices via Windows Live online storage, and optical character recognition (OCR) for getting text from pictures, business cards, etc. An online version, https://alternativeto .

Free Mac Windows Android iPhone Windows S ... Windows Phone iPad Apple Watch Android Wear Kindle Fire
Handwritten Notes Support for styluses Cloud sync Web clipper ... Audio recording Auto-saving Automatic Tagging Better formatting Data Import and Export Embedded media Handwriting recognition Hierarchical structure IFTTT integration Integrated Search Legacy Firefox Addon No dependencies Works Offline OneLogin integration PDF OCR Screenshot OCR Search by tags Sections Subtasks Tabbed interface Visual Organization Voice recognition WYSIWYG Support Add a feature

867 Like
Simplenote

Made by the company behind WordPress, Simplenote is an easy way to keep notes, lists, ideas, and more. Your notes stay updated across all your devices. No buttons to press. It just works. Your notes are synced across your devices when you create, add to or change them. Registration is required but the app and service are free.
- Simplenote is much less functional than Zim (no rich-text, no attachment to notes) and although it does work on mobile, it syncs your data via web-facing servers on which your info is held unencrypted. In that respect your information is much more vulnerable to hackers and govt agencies than if you used Zim, stored the data locally and maybe - if you need - sync it with an end-to-end encrypted service like Spideroak, Tresorit or Seafile (Seafile encrypts file content, not metadata). JohnFastman • Mar 2017 • 14 agrees and 0 disagrees
- Free and free of problems. Just simple. Guest • Oct 2016
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Android Tablet iPad Kindle Fire
Cloud sync Protected by Password Search by tags Sync with Simplenote ... Electron based File Versioning Integrated Search MarkDown support Notes synchronisation Rewind the changes Sync between devices Tag based Text Based Format Version and Source control Web Access Add a feature

395 Like
CherryTree

A hierarchical note taking application, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file.
- If Zim isn't to your liking, CherryTree might be: open-source, stores data locally, supports instant search, interprets code blocks, and has more text editing features. The only thing it's not good at (yet) is attaching things by drag-n-drop. But that is in development, I hear. JohnFastman • Mar 2017 • 5 agrees and 0 disagrees
Free Open Source Windows Linux PortableApps.com
Hierarchical structure Infinite hierarchical depth Data portability Export to HTML ... Integrated Search Multiple languages Password encryption Portable Export to PDF Syntax Highlighting Tablet support Add a feature

176 Like
Standard Notes

Love Notes. Love Encryption. Standard Notes is a safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life's work. It's simple. Standard Notes is the easiest notes app you'll ever use. That means a more reliable, long-term experience. Encrypted writing is your best writing. You never really know the power of your words until you experience total-privacy for the first time.

Freemium $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Chrome OS Android Tablet iPad Self-Hosted
Apps with End-to-End Encryption Encrypted Notes AES encryption MarkDown support ... Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Privacy focused Cloud sync Security focused Clean design Tag based Ad-free Android Sync Client side encryption Content Filtering Decentralized Sync with Dropbox Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Local Storage Nested Folders Works Offline Password encryption Plain text authoring Privacy Protected Real-time sync Search by tags Sync between devices Vim key mapping Add a feature

287 Like
TagSpaces

TagSpaces is an open source personal data manager. It helps you organize and browse your files on every platform. Cross-platform file tagging and file finding Organize your photos, ebooks, music, recipes or invoices in the same way on almost every platform. We currently support Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, Firefox and Chrome With the help of tags you can do research better or you can manage projects using the GTD methodology.

Freemium $ $ $ Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android iPhone ... Android Tablet Self-Hosted Chrome Firefox
File Tagging File-organization Works Offline Tag based ... Automatic file renaming Support for Batch Mode Built-in editor Built-in Note Taker Chromecast support Color coding Extensible by Plugins/Extensions File preview File Searching Hierarchical structure Indexed search Information aggregator Local Storage MarkDown support Visual Tagging Support for WebDAV Add a feature

117 Like
TiddlyWiki

TiddlyWiki is a single html file with all the characteristics of a wiki - including all of the functionality (including editing, saving, tagging and searching) and the style sheet. Because its a single file, its very portable - you can email it, put it on a web server or share it via a USB stick. It has a broad range of tools and an ever expanding plethora of plugins.
- The single html file of TW is unbelievably simple and platform agnostic. File can be opened in any browser. There TW will open, edit, etc. Works just as well on a phone. File can be hosted/sync'd on DropBox or similar so you don't even need to download/upload (in the usual sense). Very smooth interface to boot. Robust support community constantly adding plugins. Guest • May 2017 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web BSD ... Self-Hosted Xfce
Encrypted Notes MarkDown support Multiple languages Password encryption ... Portable Standalone Support for NodeJS Wiki-like interface Add a feature

166 Like
Turtl

Whether it's bookmarks or passwords, files or shopping lists...Turtl organizes it all and makes it easy to find later. Sync across your devices. Leave nothing behind. Turtl uses high-end cryptography to protect your data. Whether you're worried about information leaks, competitive advantage, or blanket government surveillance, Turtl works hard to make sure only you, and those you choose, can see your data.

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Android Android Tablet ... Self-Hosted Chrome Firefox
Encrypted Notes Apps with End-to-End Encryption MarkDown support Android Sync ... Client side encryption Data portability Password encryption Real time collaboration Sync between devices Sync on many devices Add a feature

106 Like
Notion

With so many tools, it's hard to keep everyone on the same page. Notion is a new tool that unifies them all. It's like Google Docs, but everything is organized and discoverable by your team. Real collaboration in real-time. Tired of your clunky wiki? With Notion, adding all types of content is as easy as drag & drop. Drag. Drop. Work as fluidly as you think. Love using Trello? Notion brings the same visual organization to every page.
- Notion is also a wiki and also cross-platform in the sense that it is a web application. It has some features that Zim doesn't, e.g. multi-column layouts. dimaneiaglov • Oct 2018
Freemium $ $ $ Mac Windows Web Android iPhone ... iPad
MarkDown support Real time collaboration Wiki-like interface Collaborative writing ... Drag n drop Embedded media Google Drive integration Integrated Search Kanban boards Knowledge base Latex Math Support for @mentions Real time collaboration Real time editing Slack integration Student discount Syntax Highlighting Team Collaboration To-Do management Youtube integration Add a feature

82 Like
DokuWiki

DokuWiki is a standards compliant, simple to use Wiki, mainly aimed at creating documentation of any kind. It is targeted at developer teams, workgroups and small companies. It has a simple but powerful syntax which makes sure the datafiles remain readable outside the Wiki and eases the creation of structured texts. All data is stored in plain text files – no database is required.

Free Open Source Self-Hosted Cloudron
Drag n drop Extensible by Plugins/Extensions Add a feature

152 Like
MediaWiki

MediaWiki is a free software wiki package written in PHP, originally for use on Wikipedia. It is now used by several other projects of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and by many other wikis, including this website, the home of MediaWiki.

Free Open Source Self-Hosted PHP Cloudron
No features added Add a feature

117 Like
Paperwork

Paperwork aims to be an open-source, self-hosted alternative to services like Evernote , Microsoft OneNote or Google Keep . Paperwork is written in PHP, utilising the beautiful Laravel 4 framework. It provides a modern web UI, built on top of AngularJS & Bootstrap 3, as well as an open API for third party integration. For the back-end part a MySQL database stores everything.

Free Open Source Web Self-Hosted PHP Cloudron
Support for Bootstrap Nginx Real time collaboration Add a feature

78 Like
OpenNote

OpenNote was built to be an open web based alternative to Microsoft OneNote and Evernote . Features Full WYSIWYG editor Touch friendly and mouse friendly ui Upload manager (not enabled in demo :) ) Light weight Multi user support Search PDO Connector/(MySql and SQLite Database Support) Move Folders(Cut and paste) Rename/Delete Folders(Click on folder title to get menu.)

Free Open Source Self-Hosted
WYSIWYG Support Lightweight Support for Multiple Users Works Offline ... Tag based Add a feature

120 Like
Notezilla

Take quick notes on Post-It(r) like sticky notes on Windows desktop, stick those notes to websites, documents & folders. Set reminder alarm to each sticky note. To avoid desktop clutter, you can organize those sticky notes inside folders. Send sticky notes to another computer over local network (LAN) or Internet, Sync sticky notes between computers using the Notezilla.

Commercial Windows Web Android iPhone Android Tablet ... iPad
Android Sync Auto-saving Clean design Cloud sync ... Compatible with touchscreen Drag n drop Encrypted Notes Goal Tracking Hierarchical structure Sync with iCloud iPhone/iPod sync Kanban boards Support for Keyboard Shortcuts Lightweight List management Works Offline Optimized for Windows Password encryption Protected by Password Periodic reminders Photo notes Real time collaboration Recurring tasks Search by tags Share notes Skinnable Sync across Devices Sync between devices Sync on many devices Sits in the System Tray Tag based Task assignments Text formatting Timer for tasks Add a feature

394 Like
Tomboy

Tomboy is a desktop note-taking application for Linux, Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X. Simple and easy to use, but with potential to help you organize the ideas and information you deal with every day. FEATURES - Highlighting text - Inline spell checking - Auto-linking web & email addresses - Undo/redo - Font styling & sizing - Bulleted lists - Note synchronization across several computers - Backup and Recovery

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
Automatic link generation Local Storage Symbolic links Add a feature

227 Like
wikidPad

wikidPad is a Wiki-like notebook for storing your thoughts, ideas, todo lists, contacts, or anything else you can think of to write down. What makes wikidPad different from other notepad applications is the ease with which you can cross-link your information. Links in a wiki are created by typing in WikiWords. A WikiWord is any mixed case word typed into the editor. TodoList or JohnDoe are example WikiWords.
- Used it for a while. Very well written application, fast and responsive. But in 2017 markdown is musthave. Besides i couldn't export my settings in any format except html. Guest • Dec 2017 • 0 agrees and 1 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux BSD
Cross Linking Wiki-like interface Add a feature

155 Like
DEVONthink

Meet DEVONthink — designed to manage and keep in order all those disparate pieces of information so important to your work or studies. As you become more experienced with DEVONthink and its easy, intuitive interface you will quickly find more exciting ways of using your data.

Commercial Mac
File Tagging PDF OCR Add a feature

89 Like
RedNotebook

RedNotebook is a graphical diary and journal helping you keep track of notes and thoughts. It includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates, export functionality and word clouds. You can also format, tag and search your entries.
- RedNotebook is date-based journaling app, and Zim is a hierarchial date-independent notebook. steed • Apr 2015 • 3 agrees and 0 disagrees
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux PortableApps.com Xfce
Auto-saving Add a feature

101 Like
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QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is the open source 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. So you are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device (like with CloudNotes) or the ownCloud web-service. The notes are stored as plain text files and are synced with ownCloud's file sync functionality.
- Because it offers a similar solution. Guest • Aug 2017
Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux Qt
Configurable Hostable iCal integration MarkDown support ... Nextcloud integration Owncloud integration Tag based Add a feature

38 Like
Bear

Bear is a beautiful and flexible writing app for note-taking and prose, both on the go for iOS devices and for the Mac OS desktop. KEY FEATURES - Stay organized by linking notes to each other. - Use hashtags to organize and add context to notes. - Notes are stored in plain text, easily portable. - Focus mode to keep you on track. - Advanced markdown with full in-line image support - Powerful search to easily find notes with Search Triggers.

Freemium $ $ $ Mac iPhone iPad
MarkDown support Distraction free writing Sync with iCloud Search by tags Add a feature

44 Like
NixNote

NixNote, formerly Nevernote, is an open source client for Evernote . It is written in Java so it will also run on Windows & OS-X, but the primary focus has been to try and get a usable environment for Linux. Features Synchronizes with Evernote servers Local data caching Cross platform Local-only and synchronized notebooks supported Database may be encrypted locally

Free Open Source Mac Windows Linux
No features added Add a feature

97 Like
Omni Notes

Note taking open-source application aimed to have both a simple interface but keeping smart behavior.

Free Open Source Android
Encrypted Notes Native application Works Offline Add a feature

38 Like
Nimbus Note

Beautiful note-taker and organizer. Use Nimbus Note for storing your ideas, lectures, web pages, food recipes, and any other information. Quick synchronization will allow you to have access to your information anytime from anywhere in the world. Functional web clipper will help you save any information from the Internet: interesting articles to be read later, material for lectures, food recipes to please yourself and your loved ones, website screenshots, and many other things.

Freemium $ $ $ Windows Web Android iPhone Android Tablet ... Windows Phone iPad Chrome Opera
Works Offline Audio recording IFTTT integration Integrated Search ... Location-based reminders Nested Folders Works Offline Photo notes Capture Screen / Take screenshots Search by tags Share notes Sync across Devices Web clipper Add a feature

51 Like
Quiver

Quiver is a notebook built for programmers. It lets you easily mix text, code and Markdown within one note, edit code with an awesome code editor, live preview Markdown and LaTeX cells, and find any note instantly via the full-text search. ## Mix Text, Code and Markdown A note in Quiver is comprised of cells --- snippets of text, code, Markdown or LaTeX. You can freely mix different cell types within one note. You can set different languages for different code cells, too.

Commercial $ $ $ Mac
Live Preview MarkDown support Syntax Highlighting Code formatting ... Sync with Dropbox Full text search Support for LaTeX Add a feature

35 Like
Leanote

Leanote provides services for note and blog. You can use "note" as your personal notebook, if you want to share with friends, just publish note or notebook to the blog. The code of Leanote can be found on Github but you have to pay to get the app from the official website, hence this freemium license.

Freemium Open Source Mac Windows Linux Web Android ... iPhone Android Tablet iPad Self-Hosted
MarkDown support Sequence Diagrams Export to HTML Full text search ... Latex Math Nested Notebooks Portable Export to PDF Add a feature

39 Like