1 Best Open-Source Alternatives to Joplin in 2026
By Noahlast updated pricing verified
Compared: open-source alternatives to Joplin
| Alternative | Best for | Standout | Biggest weakness | Learning curve | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joplinreference | People who want an offline-first, end-to-end encrypted Markdown note app with a free self-hosted sync option and no vendor lock-in. | End-to-end encryption is available on every sync method, including the free options (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, Nextcloud), not just the paid Joplin Cloud tier. | Joplin's editor and web clipper feel less polished than Notion or Evernote, and Joplin Cloud has no free plan of its own, so ongoing hosted sync costs money even though the app itself is free. | Moderate | Free tier · paid from $3.23/mo |
| Standard Notes | privacy-focused professionals and journalists who want a fully open-source, end-to-end encrypted notes app they can self-host instead of trusting a vendor's servers | Fully open-source (AGPL-3.0) client and server code that can be self-hosted, combined with end-to-end encryption that keeps even Standard Notes/Proton from reading note content. | The free tier's editor is intentionally minimal (plain text-focused), so richer formatting, extended note history, and file attachments require a paid plan whose current price is not transparently listed on the marketing site without navigating to a signup flow, and the plain-text-first design means it lacks the richer block-based editing found in competitors like Notion. | Low | Free |
Joplin
Standard Notes1.Standard Notes — best Joplin alternative for privacy-focused professionals and journalists who want a fully open-source, end-to-end encrypted notes app they can self-host instead of trusting a vendor's servers
Standard Notes is the best Joplin alternative for people who came to Joplin for encryption and open source and would rather not pay for hosted sync. Standard Notes' free tier includes unlimited end-to-end encrypted notes synced across unlimited devices at $0, which answers Joplin's own biggest gap directly: Joplin Cloud has no free plan, so official Joplin sync starts at 2.99 EUR/month (about $3.23). Standard Notes goes further than Joplin on licensing too. Its client and server are AGPL-3.0 with the source on GitHub (6.6K stars) and the server can be self-hosted, where Joplin is open core. Proton AG acquired Standard Notes in April 2024 and kept both the brand and the open-source codebase. Standard Notes is also the only tool on this page with an external rating on record, 4.5/5 from 14 Capterra reviews, against none for Joplin. Joplin is still the better choice if you actually write inside your notes. The Standard Notes free editor is deliberately plain-text-focused, and rich text, Markdown, and code editors, extended version history, two-factor authentication, and encrypted file attachments all sit behind a paid plan whose current price is not published clearly, since standardnotes.com returned 403 to automated fetches. Joplin's free app already includes both Markdown and Rich Text editors, a plugin API, custom themes, and attachments covering images, PDFs, audio, math expressions, and diagrams.
Compared to Joplin: free end-to-end encrypted sync across unlimited devices where Joplin Cloud has no free plan, a fully AGPL-3.0 client and server against Joplin's open-core model, and a plain-text-focused free editor where Joplin's free app ships both Markdown and Rich Text editors
Wins:Free tier syncs unlimited end-to-end encrypted notes across unlimited devices at $0, while Joplin Cloud has no free plan and starts at 2.99 EUR/month (about $3.23) · Client and server are both AGPL-3.0 with the source on GitHub (6.6K stars) and the server is self-hostable, where Joplin is open core · The only tool on this page with an external rating on record: 4.5/5 from 14 Capterra reviews, against none for Joplin, and it has been backed by Proton AG since the April 2024 acquisition
Loses:The free editor is intentionally plain-text-focused, while Joplin's free app ships both Markdown and Rich Text editors plus a plugin API and custom themes · Extended note history, extra editors, two-factor authentication, and encrypted file attachments require a paid plan whose current price is not published clearly (standardnotes.com returned 403 to automated fetches), where Joplin lists every tier in euros on its plans page · Smaller user base and review footprint (14 Capterra reviews) with fewer third-party integrations, and no equivalent to Joplin's attachment range of images, PDFs, audio, math expressions, and diagrams on the free tier
Pros
- Fully open-source and self-hostable (AGPL-3.0), letting privacy-conscious users run their own server.
- End-to-end encryption means Standard Notes cannot read note content, even after the Proton acquisition.
- Native apps across web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android from one shared codebase.
- Backed by Proton's infrastructure and funding since the April 2024 acquisition.
Cons
- Free tier's default editor is intentionally plain and minimal compared to rich-text or block-based note apps.
- Paid tier's exact current pricing is not clearly published on the marketing site without starting a signup flow.
- Smaller user base and review footprint than mainstream note apps, meaning fewer third-party integrations.
- Self-hosting the server requires technical setup that most users will skip in favor of the hosted service.
Pricing: Free — $0 for unlimited encrypted sync across unlimited devices vs Joplin Cloud Basic at 2.99 EUR/month (about $3.23); the Standard Notes paid tier's current price is not published in a verifiable form