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10 top picks · 2 audience rankings

Best open source note-taking apps

The best open source note-taking app is Excalidraw, with 133,574 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Memos and TriliumNext Notes are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Excalidraw leads for startups, small business, freelancers, solo developers and home use. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 25 apps in the note-taking & editors category of the appsgit catalog.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Excalidraw

    excalidraw/excalidraw

    Virtual hand-drawn style whiteboard for diagrams and sketches.

    UtilitiesTypeScriptDocker

    Excalidraw has 133,574 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Figma and Lucidchart.

  2. Rank 2:

    Memos

    usememos/memos

    Knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file.

    Note-taking & EditorsGoDocker

    Memos has 63,545 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 928 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Google Keep.

  3. Rank 3:

    TriliumNext Notes

    TriliumNext/Trilium

    Cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with focus on building large personal knowledge bases (fork of Trilium Notes).

    Note-taking & EditorsTypeScriptDocker

    TriliumNext Notes has 38,217 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 16,949 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian.

1 of 3 · 10 picks

Top picks

10 of the 25 apps in the note-taking & editors category, ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Excalidraw

    Virtual hand-drawn style whiteboard for diagrams and sketches.

    Excalidraw has 133,574 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Figma and Lucidchart.

  2. 2

    Memos

    Knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file.

    Memos has 63,545 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 928 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Google Keep.

  3. 3

    TriliumNext Notes

    Cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with focus on building large personal knowledge bases (fork of Trilium Notes).

    TriliumNext Notes has 38,217 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 16,949 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian.

  4. 4

    AFFiNE

    Privacy-first workspace that combines docs, whiteboards and databases, an open-source Notion alternative.

    AFFiNE has 73,246 GitHub stars, is source-available under the MIT (client) and AFFiNE Enterprise Edition licence (server) (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 752 commits in the last year; it replaces Notion and Dropbox Paper.

  5. 5

    Joplin

    Note taking application with markdown editor and encryption support for mobile and desktop platforms. Runs client-side and syncs through a self hosted Nextcloud instance or similar (alternative to…

    Joplin has 56,611 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,019 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian.

  6. 6

    Logseq

    Privacy-first, local-first outliner and knowledge graph.

    Logseq has 45,147 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 4,148 commits in the last year; it replaces Obsidian.

  7. 7

    Overleaf

    Web-based collaborative LaTeX editor.

    Overleaf has 18,210 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,137 commits in the last year.

  8. 8

    Docs

    Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.

    Docs has 16,895 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,059 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Docs and Dropbox Paper.

  9. 9

    Blinko

    A personal note tool with AI features.

    AI-nativeBlinko has 11,058 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 193 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Google Keep.

  10. 10

    HedgeDoc

    Realtime collaborative markdown notes on all platforms, formerly known as CodiMD and HackMD CE.

    HedgeDoc has 7,461 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 587 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Google Docs.

2 of 3 · 5 picks

Best for startups, small business, freelancers and solo developers

Ranked for startups, small business, freelancers and solo developers (the same order for each) on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Excalidraw

    Virtual hand-drawn style whiteboard for diagrams and sketches.

    Excalidraw has 133,574 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Figma and Lucidchart. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (MIT), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Memos

    Knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file.

    Memos has 63,545 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 928 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Google Keep. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (MIT), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    TriliumNext Notes

    Cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with focus on building large personal knowledge bases (fork of Trilium Notes).

    TriliumNext Notes has 38,217 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 16,949 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    AFFiNE

    Privacy-first workspace that combines docs, whiteboards and databases, an open-source Notion alternative.

    AFFiNE has 73,246 GitHub stars, is source-available under the MIT (client) and AFFiNE Enterprise Edition licence (server) (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 752 commits in the last year; it replaces Notion and Dropbox Paper. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Joplin

    Note taking application with markdown editor and encryption support for mobile and desktop platforms. Runs client-side and syncs through a self hosted Nextcloud instance or similar (alternative to…

    Joplin has 56,611 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,019 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian. For startups it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

3 of 3 · 5 picks

Best for home use

Ranked for home use on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Excalidraw

    Virtual hand-drawn style whiteboard for diagrams and sketches.

    Excalidraw has 133,574 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Figma and Lucidchart. For home use it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Memos

    Knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file.

    Memos has 63,545 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 928 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Google Keep. For home use it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    AFFiNE

    Privacy-first workspace that combines docs, whiteboards and databases, an open-source Notion alternative.

    AFFiNE has 73,246 GitHub stars, is source-available under the MIT (client) and AFFiNE Enterprise Edition licence (server) (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 752 commits in the last year; it replaces Notion and Dropbox Paper. For home use it also scores on a Docker image and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    TriliumNext Notes

    Cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with focus on building large personal knowledge bases (fork of Trilium Notes).

    TriliumNext Notes has 38,217 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 16,949 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian. For home use it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Joplin

    Note taking application with markdown editor and encryption support for mobile and desktop platforms. Runs client-side and syncs through a self hosted Nextcloud instance or similar (alternative to…

    Joplin has 56,611 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,019 commits in the last year; it replaces Evernote and Obsidian. For home use it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source note-taking app?

The best open source note-taking app is Excalidraw, with 133,574 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Memos and TriliumNext Notes are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Excalidraw leads for startups, small business, freelancers, solo developers and home use. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 25 apps in the note-taking & editors category of the appsgit catalog.

Is Excalidraw free?

Yes. Excalidraw is open-source software released under the MIT license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Which open source note-taking app is best for a startup?

Excalidraw ranks first for startups, with 133,574 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Memos and TriliumNext Notes follow. The startups ranking adds points for Docker images, permissive licenses, project websites and recent commits on top of stars and activity.

Which open source note-taking app is best for a small business?

Excalidraw ranks first for small business, with 133,574 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Memos and TriliumNext Notes follow. The small business ranking adds points for Docker images, open-source licenses, project websites, recent commits and deploy guides on top of stars and activity.

Can I self-host these note-taking apps with Docker?

Yes, 6 of the 10 picks. Excalidraw, Memos and TriliumNext Notes publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose. The others install from their own packages or source; follow each project's install guide.

Are all of these note-taking apps open source?

9 of the 10 apps on this list are open source; 1 is source-available. Source-available licenses add conditions, such as limits on hosted or commercial use, so read them before you deploy.

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