Open-source alternatives to Evernote

Evernote used to be the default home for everyone's notes. These days the people looking for an alternative mostly have one of two complaints: the price, or the limits.

The free plan stops at 50 notes and one device, which is barely a trial. Starter costs $99 a year and caps you at 1,000 notes. To get rid of the limits you need Advanced, at $249.99 a year, and that's one person. If you've put ten years of your working life in there, that's quite a thing to be renting back.

The good news is that this is one of the easier switches on this site. Notes apps are simple, Evernote lets you export, and both tools below can read that export.

Joplin

Joplin is the closest thing to a straight swap. It's a proper notes app, with notebooks, tags and to-dos, and it lives on your devices first, so everything works offline.

• Apps for everything: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone, plus a terminal version if that's your sort of thing.
• Evernote import. Export a .enex file from Evernote and Joplin converts it to Markdown, bringing attachments and details such as timestamps across.
• Your choice of sync. Nextcloud, WebDAV, S3, Dropbox, OneDrive or the paid Joplin Cloud.
• End-to-end encryption, so notes are encrypted before they reach whatever you sync to.
• A web clipper for Firefox and Chrome, to save pages and screenshots. For many Evernote users that's half the point.
• Plugins and themes if you want to extend it.

Notes are written in Markdown, which is simple but different. Evernote's rich formatting converts rather than carries over exactly, so expect some older notes to look a bit plainer.

There is one licensing trap for businesses. The apps are AGPL open source, but Joplin Server has its own personal-use licence, and that licence doesn't allow commercial use. A company has three clean options: sync through Nextcloud or WebDAV for free, pay for Joplin Cloud Teams (from 6.69 euros per user a month), or buy the Joplin Server Business licence (40 euros per user a year for 2 to 10 users, source available but not open source).

Trilium Notes

Trilium isn't really an Evernote clone. It's a tool for building a big personal knowledge base, and it's a good deal more powerful, and stranger, than a notes app.

• A tree of notes, where one note can appear in several places at once.
• Built for scale, with the project quoting over 100,000 notes.
• Rich text, code, sketches, mind maps and relation maps all as note types.
• Note revisions, so you can go back to an earlier version.
• Per-note encryption for the sensitive bits.
• Attributes and scripting, which let you build small tools inside your notes.
• Evernote and Markdown import, plus a web clipper.

You can run it as a desktop app on Windows, Mac or Linux on its own, or self-host the server (there's a Docker image) to get sync and a browser version that's nearly the same as the desktop app.

Two limits matter. The first is that it's designed for one user. The official FAQ explains that it isn't multi-user, and that this is deliberate, because the scripting would be a security hole otherwise. So it isn't a team tool.

The second is phones. Your options are the mobile browser view or community apps (TriliumDroid and Pocket Trilium on Android, Trinote on iPhone), and sync versions need to match, so you need to take care with updates.

It has also had a change of hands. The original developer passed it to the community, and it now lives on as TriliumNext. That looks healthy to me: the repository is very active.

The UK angle

For most people this isn't a big issue. A US-hosted notes app is fine for your shopping lists and meeting notes, and for most small firms it's fine for work notes too, provided you've read the terms.

Where it's worth a thought is when your notes contain personal data about customers or staff. Under UK GDPR, you're still responsible for that data wherever it sits, so it helps to know where it is.

Both tools make that simple. With Joplin, your notes sit on your devices and in whichever folder you sync to, and end-to-end encryption means that whoever stores them can't read them. With Trilium, they're in a database on your own machine or server. Either way, you own a copy in an open format and can walk away at any time, which is the real benefit here.

Honest drawbacks

• Sync takes a little setting up. Evernote just works from a login. With Joplin you need somewhere to sync to, and that needs looking after.
• Team sharing isn't the free option's strength. Sharing notebooks with other people needs Joplin Cloud Pro or Teams, or Joplin Server. Plain Nextcloud or WebDAV sync won't do it.
• Imports aren't perfect. Check your important notes after moving, particularly the heavily formatted ones.
• Markdown won't suit everyone. If people are used to a Word-like editor, it takes some getting used to.
• Trilium is one person's tool, with a steeper learning curve and no official phone app.
• No company on the end of the phone, unless you're paying for Joplin's plans.

Which one?

My pick is Joplin. It has apps on every device, it imports your Evernote export, and syncing through Nextcloud or WebDAV costs nothing in licence fees. The main drawback is that free sync gives you private notes on all your devices, not proper team sharing.

• You, or a small team with mostly personal notes: Joplin.
• One person building a large knowledge base, happy to learn a new way of working: Trilium.
• A team that needs shared notebooks: Joplin Cloud Teams.

If your notes really belong inside a system of your own, such as job records or client files, the team at Dev Partners can build that sort of custom software.

Sources

• Joplin on GitHub
• Joplin licence file
• Joplin Server personal use licence
• Joplin installation
• Joplin sync options
• Joplin Cloud and Server plans
• Trilium on GitHub
• Trilium FAQ
• Evernote: Starter and Advanced plans FAQ
• Evernote plan comparison