Joplin is what most Evernote refugees end up using. It stores notes as Markdown, syncs them through storage you already pay for — Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, S3, or your own server — and adds end-to-end encryption on top so the storage provider cannot read the contents.
Around 56,000 people have starred the project on GitHub, and it has lasted long enough to have a plugin ecosystem, a browser clipper, and apps for desktop, mobile and terminal.
Image: Joplin icon — Laurent Cozic, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
What it covers
- Markdown notes organised in notebooks and tags, with attachments
- Your choice of sync target, including self-hosted options
- End-to-end encryption so the sync provider sees only ciphertext
- Web clipper and plugins for capture and extra features
What to know before you switch
The setup is the trade-off. Because you bring the storage, you also configure it, and getting sync working across three devices takes a few minutes of attention rather than a login. The optional Joplin Cloud subscription exists if you would rather not manage that, and AI features come from community plugins, so expect to assemble the assistant behaviour you want.
Who it fits
Privacy-conscious note-takers, people leaving subscription note apps, and anyone who wants their notes as plain files they could walk away with.