I'm using Joplin, sync'd across Nextcloud to my android phone, Linux laptop and Linux desktop.
this do much the same or ...better ?
this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2026
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I'm doing this about an intermediate step. My notes are all in a GIT repository. So I use GIT to create the synchronization between the different devices. On the smartphone with PuppyGit. Positive side effect: The note app itself does not require synchronization.
Nextcloud syncs great on PC but we're still working on implementing Webdav which would affect your Android device.
It'll take a lot for me to move from silverbullet.md but I'm always up for checking out alternatives : D
I'll give this a spin tonight
Is this obsidian2?
Seems quite good - I've tried a LOT of MarkDown editors over the years, but until quite recently, I'd stuck with Zettlr for a long time. I've recently reinstalled my laptop, which made me look for alternatives to some software, and I've been playing round with MarkText for the last few days, which seems nice.
HelixNotes is definitely good - if I had to drop MarkText, I think I could get on well with it. I like that they have a debian repository, so I can keep it updated with the usual system update software. I downloaded the AppImage as a quick test, but it didn't work because it was compiled against an old version of glibc.
The only thing I don't like so far is the format toolbar is at the bottom of the editor screen, and I haven't found a way to move it.
Great suggestion on the movable toolbar. This is definitely something we can add.
Is there an option to make check boxes for shopping lists? I cant find one.
Edit - yes there is. I found it.
Light mode - what's wrong with you? /s (but not really).
Looks like a cool project, anyone here try it and have an elivator pitch on why this over Joplin?
Looks cool.. but as an Obsidian user, i’m uncertain as to the depth of the differentiators. Open source sure, but obsidian has served me well and is lightning fast to open even with all core plug-ins enabled plus several community plug-ins. Nearly all of which are optional anyway.
Obsidian also has quite a moat in terms of third-party functionality enhancements with very feature rich examples like Xcalidraw.
They also offer an end to end encrypted synchronization service that works better than file based synchronization services like iCloud, and a publish service that also works well.
No casting of aspersions, but as a former fortune 500 decision-maker for enterprise software in the millions, I have a tendency to critically think about why X vs Y for my personal stack as well. Counterpoints welcome!
Enshitification.
If they were really committed to keeping it "for the users" they would open source it.
The fact that they haven't means they are keeping in their back pockets enshitification to drive more users to paid options in case their current investment dries up.
I love FOSS and Obsidian is literally the only close-sourced software in my stack, but open source is not necessary to prevent enshittification, not if you have interoperability. As long as data is stored in md files, if the obsidian team makes bad moves people can pack up and migrate to logseq or other competitors. While the 3rd party plugins add enhancements that might bog down switching, many of those plugins are open source and could be ported.
Was AI used in the process of making this app, and if so, how? I have personal issues with using 'vibe-coded' software. This looks very, very nice, so I figured I'd ask.
Thanks for asking. Yes, we use AI as a tool in our workflow. The difference between our workflow and 'vibe coding' is that we can catch and fix problems. We're not just shipping whatever an AI produces and hoping it works.
If - hypothetically - you were trying to convince me that this is better than Notesnook, what would your pitch be?
Since you're using Notesnook, I'm guessing you strongly care about your privacy and data security. Notesnook encrypts your notes before they leave which is great, but with HelixNotes, there's nothing to intercept in the first place. Your notes live on your device. You decide if they ever go anywhere. In addition to that, HelixNotes is free with no account creation.
I guess I should specify that I'm selfhosting Notesnook, so the data never leaves my personal device ecosystem, and the central sync server is a big plus for me. No account required either (apart from the ones I create on the server I control).
im fine with quillpad
This looks like the slightly less bloated Logseq/Obsidian I've been dying for!
Genuinely curious what bloat does Obsidian come with? But yeah my first thought too was FOSS Obsidian
Electron = bloat. That's why HelixNotes is Tauri.
Personally I have only a hundred notes or so and really only the basic plugins and it still takes up to 10 seconds to load and become usable on my phone.
It is definitely not fast loading up but it is very fast in most other use cases I have seen. At work I use it with getting more towards 1000 notes and it works fine there usually, though there is some windows+ electron weirdness
Electron runtime in general. It seems all of the popular cross platform note taking / knowledge garden apps are electron.
I long so much for a native version that I started learning QTQuick to do just this.
Please, please, add forgejo integration for sync provider.
I use Forgejo with Helixnotes. But I sync with the App PuppyGit.
I still use Simple note.
While I'd prefer one that isn't owned by the same people as WordPress and not sync to their cloud, it is open source and free. I figure it beats Google or MS notes, and don't have to manage syncing all the files. No AI nonsense either (at least for now)
Easy for shopping lists and jotting stuff down, there's an app for all the major OSs. I definitely don't trust it for anything important or sensitive.
I'll wait a few months and then check in again.
It stores all metadata in YAML frontmatter and doesn't cache in an SQLite blob? I bet that decision will be reversed pretty quickly once people try to migrate a 10k+ note collection and want to do operations like search immediately instead of scanning every file to build an in-memory cache.
You're right that all metadata lives in markdown frontmatter, but it's not uncached. The notes list also only reads around 2KB frontmatter, so it stays fast well past 10k notes. We do have some tweaks planned though to optimize this even further. This is a great suggestion, thank you!
No vibe coding. No AI. No slop. This is absolutely screaming LLM
The whole website looks like AI.
Also the commit history is only 3 month old and the first commit is 26000 lines. How ever this could be longer in development and commits could be squashed. At this point, I doubt it though.
They could be hosting the source code on github or something like that and changed to couldberg no?
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Is this the Google Keep replacement we've all been waiting for?
Naw no decent widget on android
boooo
I've been using Joplin on my phone and laptop with WebDAV sync to my NAS. Have plans to update to Joplin server so can share notes with the Baroness.
Iirc Joplin has a Nextcloud plugin so Nextcloud can be the self hosted cloud storage. I’ve been meaning to set it up
As someone who used NC with Joplin for a long time, I wouldn't recommend it. I prefer syncthing now, much simpler to manage and find your files vs it being nested in a big clunky NC instance.
I need to look into sync thing I hear good things. Basically you point it to some storage and have it copy a local folder/file?
I also have Joplin and recently moved to self-hosted joplin server (from filesystem sync) and it was smooth af and works so flawlessly i love it!
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At this point I just need a markdown editor for my phone and syncthing to move everything back and forth.
Joplin works really well for me. Was syncing via nextcloud for a long time but syncthing is way easier to manage and more bulletproof as long as you configure it correctly
I do this with "Markor", great notes app for txt and md files. All files locally and synced via Syncthing. Been using this for years, love it.
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