Ten ways to keep notes

10 apps

Some people want backlinks and a knowledge graph, others just want a place where pressing a key lets them write. These ten cover six approaches: outliner, bidirectional links, plain text, encryption, publishing and minimal. Decide first whether you want to store or to think.

01 / Ten ways to keep notes

Logseq

A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration. Download link: http://github.com/logseq/logseq/releases. roadmap: https://logseq.io/p/NX4mc_ggEV

Logseq
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
02 / Ten ways to keep notes

AppFlowy

Bring projects, wikis, and teams together with AI. AppFlowy is the AI collaborative workspace where you achieve more without losing control of your data. The leading open source Notion alternative....

AppFlowy
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
03 / Ten ways to keep notes

Knopo

A native macOS outliner that arranges thinking into hierarchies, turning scattered notes into structured documents. Data lives in local Markdown with no cloud dependency, which fits structured writing, breaking projects down and knowledge management. Folding and dragging let an idea grow from a single line into finished material.

Knopo
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
04 / Ten ways to keep notes

QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is a plain-text file notepad and todo-list manager with Markdown support and Nextcloud / ownCloud integration.

QOwnNotes
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
05 / Ten ways to keep notes

Zettlr

An all-in-one publishing workbench. Writing happens in Markdown and exports to DOCX, PDF, HTML and more through Pandoc, with citations, footnotes, multilingual spell checking and full-text search. It suits authors and researchers producing finished documents straight from a draft.

Zettlr
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
06 / Ten ways to keep notes

FSNotes

A fast Markdown note app for Mac and iPhone. Notes are stored locally as plain-text Markdown that you can sync yourself, with tags, outlines, code blocks and attachments, and both launch and search stay quick. It suits people who want a light note tool without handing content to a cloud service.

FSNotes
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
07 / Ten ways to keep notes

MiaoYan

A quiet, local-first Markdown writing app for the Mac. Notes stay as plain text on disk with syntax highlighting, preview, tags and full-text search, and the restrained interface keeps attention on the sentences. It suits long writing sessions away from cloud sync and feature clutter.

MiaoYan
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
08 / Ten ways to keep notes

Standard Notes

Think fearlessly with end-to-end encrypted notes and files. For issues, visit https://standardnotes.com/forum or https://standardnotes.com/help.

Standard Notes
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
09 / Ten ways to keep notes

VNote

A pleasant note-taking platform with native speed, majoring in Markdown, MindMap, Typst, and plain text.

VNote
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
10 / Ten ways to keep notes

Notes

A note app written in C++ that prioritises fast startup and a clean interface. Notes are kept as Markdown and plain text with categories and search, stored locally. It suits cross-platform users who want a light note tool without cloud lock-in.

Notes
Access & use

Free

Explore this app
APPFan

Discover great apps. Share real experiences.

Describe the software you are looking for