57 open-source note-taking and writing apps
Open Source Note-Taking & Writing Apps
The most popular open-source note-taking and writing apps for Windows, macOS and Linux on GitHub are AppFlowy, AFFiNE and Marktext. appsgit lists 57, including free alternatives to Notion, Evernote and Typora, each with its platforms, license and install commands.
Updated Oct 8, 2026
Open Source Note-Taking & Writing Apps
AppFlowy
AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy
Bring projects, wikis, and teams together with AI.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxAFFiNE
toeverything/AFFiNE
There can be more than Notion and Miro. AFFiNE(pronounced [ə‘fain]) is a next-gen knowledge base that brings planning, sorting and creating all together.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxMarktext
marktext/marktext
A simple and elegant markdown editor, available for Linux, macOS and Windows.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxJoplin
laurent22/joplin
Joplin - the privacy-focused note taking app with sync capabilities for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxSiYuan
siyuan-note/siyuan
An open-source, privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge workspace where humans and AI agents work together 开源、隐私优先、自托管的知识工作空间,让人与智能体在此协作.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxLogseq
logseq/logseq
A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxTrilium
TriliumNext/Trilium
Build your personal knowledge base with Trilium Notes.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxSuper Productivity
super-productivity/super-productivity
Super Productivity is an advanced todo list app with integrated Timeboxing and time tracking capabilities.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxNotesnook
streetwriters/notesnook
A fully open source & end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxElectron Builder
electron-userland/electron-builder
A complete solution to package and build a ready for distribution Electron app with “auto update” support out of the box.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxZettlr
Zettlr/Zettlr
Your One-Stop Publication Workbench.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxVnote
vnotex/vnote
A pleasant note-taking platform in native C++.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxNote Gen
codexu/note-gen
Capture first. Organize later. A local-first Markdown app that turns scattered records into clear notes with AI.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxDust
bootandy/dust
A more intuitive version of du in rust.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxWaybar
Alexays/Waybar
Highly customizable Wayland bar for Sway and Wlroots based compositors.
Notes & writingLinuxLepton
hackjutsu/Lepton
Democratizing Snippet Management (macOS/Win/Linux).
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxAnarlog
fastrepl/anarlog
Open source Granola AI Alternative.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxAnytype
anyproto/anytype-ts
Official Anytype client for MacOS, Linux, and Windows.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxMiaoYan
tw93/MiaoYan
Lightweight Markdown app to help you write great sentences.
Notes & writingmacOSFsnotes
glushchenko/fsnotes
Fast Markdown note-taking app for Mac and iPhone.
Notes & writingmacOSmassCode
massCodeIO/massCode
A free, open-source developer workspace. Snippets, notes, HTTP requests, calculations, and dev tools in one local-first app.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxPurocean
purocean/yn
A highly extensible Markdown editor featuring version control, AI Copilot, document annotations, mind maps, document encryption, executable code snippets, chart embedding, HTML applets, plugins, and…
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxStandard Notes
standardnotes/app
Think fearlessly with end-to-end encrypted notes and files.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxTaskwarrior
GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior
Taskwarrior - Command line Task Management.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxQOwnNotes
pbek/QOwnNotes
QOwnNotes is a plain-text file notepad and todo-list manager with Markdown support and Nextcloud / ownCloud integration.
Notes & writingmacOSLinuxMarkEdit
MarkEdit-app/MarkEdit
Just like TextEdit on Mac but dedicated to Markdown.
Notes & writingmacOSPlanify
alainm23/planify
Task manager with Todoist, Nextcloud & CalDAV support designed for GNOME.
Notes & writingLinuxFloral Notepaper
Achilng/floral-notepaper
花笺,轻量优雅的跨平台桌面便签工具,支持 Markdown 编辑与预览.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxTagspaces
tagspaces/tagspaces
TagSpaces is an offline, open source, document manager with tagging support.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxSaber
saber-notes/saber
The cross-platform open-source app built for handwriting.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxOpen Knowledge
inkeep/open-knowledge
Beautiful, AI-native markdown IDE and LLM wiki.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxNotes
nuttyartist/notes
Fast and beautiful note-taking app written in C++.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxDnote
dnote/dnote
A simple command line notebook.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxMindforger
dvorka/mindforger
Thinking notebook and Markdown editor.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxZennotes
ZenNotes/zennotes
Keyboard-first local Markdown notes with Vim motions, diagrams, and MCP integration.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxManuskript
olivierkes/manuskript
A open-source tool for writers.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxMarkFlowy
drl990114/MarkFlowy
A high-performance, cross-platform editor that supports WYSIWYG Markdown and general text editing.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxAnubias
4xmen/anubias
Developed mobile apps so easy and native with GUI.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxEdgeever
tianma-if/edgeever
Open-source, AI-native knowledge base & Evernote alternative with native MCP.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxOnenote
patrikx3/onenote
Linux Electron Onenote - A Linux compatible version of OneNote.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxKanri
kanriapp/kanri
Modern offline Kanban board app for Windows, MacOS and Linux made with Tauri and Nuxt.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxSleek
ransome1/sleek
todo.txt manager for Linux, Windows and Mac, free and open-source (FOSS).
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxTidGi Desktop
tiddly-gittly/TidGi-Desktop
TidGi is an privacy-in-mind, automated, auto-git-backup, freely-deployed knowledge management Desktop note app, based on Tiddlywiki, with REST API for web-clipping and Anki connect.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxPoi
poooi/poi
Scalable KanColle browser and tool.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxAI Novel Writer
EthanYoQ/AI-Novel-Writer
AI 小说创作软件:把灵感、角色、世界观、大纲、章节写作、审稿和修稿组织成可控流程;提供 Windows/macOS 桌面版,支持本地和在线模型。AI Novel Writing Software: Organizes inspirations, characters, worldbuilding, outlines, chapter drafting, review, and…
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSBeaver Notes
Beaver-Notes/Beaver-Notes
Open-source, local-first workspace for notes, projects, and meetings.
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinuxImgui Markdown
enkisoftware/imgui_markdown
Support development of imgui_markdown through GitHub Sponsors or Patreon Note: development happens on the dev branch and is merged to the main branch when complete.
OfficialNotes & writingWindowsInno Agent
hhyqhh/inno-agent
An open-source personal learning agent with three-layer memory (learner profile / wiki knowledge base / cross-conversation recall), a proactive scheduler, personal IM channels, and a…
Notes & writingWindowsmacOSLinux
Showing the top 48 of 57 by GitHub stars. Every entry is listed in the sitemap and the JSON API.
What are the best open-source note-taking and writing apps?
By GitHub stars, AppFlowy is the most popular (77,181 stars), followed by AFFiNE and Marktext. People often use these instead of Notion, Evernote and Typora. Each page lists the platforms, license and last commit.
Which of these run on Windows, Mac and Linux?
50 of the 57 open-source note-taking and writing apps listed here run on Windows, 53 on macOS and 50 on Linux; on a Mac, the most starred is AppFlowy. 26 can be installed with a package manager such as Flathub, Homebrew, winget or Chocolatey.
Are these open-source note-taking and writing apps free?
55 of the 57 use an open-source license, so they are free to use and change. 2 are source-available (AFFiNE and Anytype): the code is public but the license restricts some uses.
How are these open-source note-taking and writing apps chosen?
Apps come from desktop awesome lists (Awesome Linux Software, awesome-mac, awesome-windows, awesome-electron and the media and file sections of awesome-cli-apps), more than 70 GitHub topics such as desktop-app, electron-app, tauri-app, gtk, qt, macos-app, pdf-editor, cad and remote-desktop, and a hand-picked list of flagship apps. An app is listed only if it has a license (one GitHub detects, or one appsgit checked by hand), a README and a commit in the last six months, is not archived or a fork, and has 1000+ GitHub stars (topics), 500+ (awesome lists) or 100+ (hand-picked). It must also be an end-user application with a desktop signal: installers in its releases, install instructions for Windows, macOS or Linux, or a Flathub, Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey, Snap or AUR package. Libraries, frameworks, themes, plugins and servers are left out, and source-available apps are labelled as such.