Self-hosted alternatives to Simplenote

Quick, synced notes, hosted by you. Below are 12 open source options you host on your own server — with no monthly per-user fee and full control of your data.

Memos

★ 60,987

Memos is a lightweight app for quick notes and journaling, like a private Twitter for your ideas. Hosted by you, it's a minimalist alternative to Google Keep with markdown and full privacy.

Note-taking & Editors MIT

Joplin

★ 55,314

Joplin is an open source notes and to-do app with markdown, end-to-end encryption and the sync target of your choice. It's the alternative to Evernote for those who want to keep control of their own notebooks.

Note-taking & Editors MIT

TriliumNext Notes

★ 36,543

TriliumNext Notes is a hierarchical note-taking app built for large personal knowledge bases. Self-hosted, it organizes ideas in a tree with advanced features and full privacy.

Note-taking & Editors AGPL-3.0

Overleaf

★ 17,852

Web-based collaborative LaTeX editor.

Note-taking & Editors AGPL-3.0

Docs

★ 16,603

Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.

Note-taking & EditorsKnowledge Management Tools MIT

Blinko

★ 10,599

A personal note tool with AI features.

Note-taking & Editors AGPL-3.0

HedgeDoc

★ 7,265

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

Note-taking & Editors AGPL-3.0

Standard Notes

★ 6,518

Simple and private notes app. Protect your privacy while getting more done. That's Standard Notes.

Note-taking & Editors GPL-3.0

draw.io

★ 6,278

Diagram software for making flowcharts, process diagrams, org charts, UML, ER and network diagrams.

Note-taking & Editors Apache-2.0

Livebook

★ 5,805

Realtime collaborative notebook app based on Markdown that supports running Elixir code snippets, TeX and Mermaid Diagrams. Easily deployed using Docker or Elixir.

Note-taking & Editors Apache-2.0

SilverBullet

★ 5,513

Note-taking application optimized for people with a hacker mindset.

Note-taking & EditorsPastebins MIT

flatnotes

★ 3,123

Database-less note-taking web app that utilises a flat folder of markdown files for storage.

Note-taking & Editors MIT

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Simplenote?

Yes. We've gathered 12 self-hosted, open source alternatives to Simplenote — including Memos, Joplin, TriliumNext Notes. You run all of them on your own server.

What is the best open source alternative to Simplenote?

Memos is one of the most popular (60,987 GitHub stars). The "best" depends on your case — compare the options below.

Do I need a server to replace Simplenote?

Yes. You can use a home server (homelab) or a cheap VPS (from ~€4/mo). See the hosting suggestions on this page.