The best Notes & Knowledge
Every option ranked — open-source, self-hostable, and commercial — by our transparent Sovereignty Score, with honest trade-offs so you choose what fits you, not us.
Own your notes as local files instead of renting a cloud workspace.
L5Applications — layer 5 of the AI stack- 1
Logseq
Top pickOpen sourceA local-first, open-source outliner over plain Markdown.
Free / open-source · in our Notion comparison →
What is Logseq? →90sovereignty - 2
Joplin
Top pickOpen sourceA free, open-source, Markdown-based note app with end-to-end encrypted sync and native Evernote import.
Core app is free forever with no note/device caps. Sync is free if you bring your own WebDAV/Nextcloud/S3/Dropbox target, or self-host Joplin Server for personal use at no cost; Joplin Cloud (managed hosted sync) starts around $2.99/month. · in our Evernote comparison →
What is Joplin? →88sovereignty - 3
TriliumNext Notes
Open sourceA self-hosted, tree-structured personal knowledge base built for power users with very large note collections.
Free and open source, unlimited notes and self-hosting. A third-party paid sync-hosting service exists for readers who don't want to run their own server, but self-hosting the sync server yourself costs nothing. · in our Evernote comparison →
What is TriliumNext Notes? →87sovereignty - 4
AppFlowy
Open sourceThe open-source Notion alternative, self-hostable.
Free / open-source; optional paid cloud · in our Notion comparison →
What is AppFlowy? →85sovereignty - 5
Standard Notes
Open sourceA privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted notes app, open source and self-hostable, now part of Proton.
Free tier: unlimited plain-text notes, unlimited devices, 100MB total storage, no rich text/attachments/history. Paid Productivity tier: $90/year (Markdown, rich text, spreadsheets, unlimited history). Professional tier: $120/year (adds 100GB encrypted file storage, family sharing). Self-hosting the sync server is free. · in our Evernote comparison →
What is Standard Notes? →80sovereignty - 6
Obsidian
CommercialLocal Markdown notes with a huge plugin ecosystem.
Free for personal use; paid Sync/Publish optional · in our Notion comparison →
What is Obsidian? →78sovereignty - 7
Anytype
CommercialLocal-first, end-to-end encrypted knowledge base.
Free · in our Notion comparison →
What is Anytype? →72sovereignty
Is it free?
The free tier, its real limits and where you start paying — read from each vendor's own pricing page and dated.
Run these yourself
What each one actually needs — real RAM, honest running cost, and the setup time nobody quotes.
- Self-hosting Logseq 2 GB with a large graph open
- Self-hosting Joplin 1–2 GB for Joplin Server plus PostgreSQL for a household or small group. The desktop and mobile apps run on your own devices.
- Self-hosting AppFlowy 1 GB for the desktop app; 2 GB for the self-hosted cloud
- Self-hosting Anytype 1.5 GB
Replacing a specific tool?
Head-to-head comparisons for each popular notes & knowledge product.
Straight head-to-heads
Two notes & knowledge tools, side by side — verified facts and a plain verdict.