Daan | New To Narrative
inkfern@turbohermit I use @joplinapp
I have never used notion, but i think joplin has less features. You can self-host the cloud version or just sync your data with whatever cloud service you are using.
There are also @obsidian and @logseq
@inkfern @joplinapp @obsidian @logseq Ok yeah cool, great thanks for the recommendations. Will check out the pros and cons for each
Joni Korpi@turbohermit A kind of anti-recommendation: I tried many (but not Docmost) and none come close to replicating the UI. Specifically the smooth creation, deletion, rearranging of blocks. So I continued using Notion.
But if you can give up the UI, I liked these two the best:
1. Obsidian (not actually open-source)
2. Anytype
@jonikorpi Ok cool hadn't fond Anytype yet, so curious to try that out! I feel with Obsidian, it looks like a good alternative, but anything not FOSS will end up like an enshitified hot mess at some point in the near future
But maybe that's just me being cynical
@turbohermit You're probably right, but the good thing about Obsidian is it just uses .md files, and they're always in your file system as is. As easy to move away from as possible, basically.
candide.xyz@turbohermit What functionality of Notion do you use the most? Are you looking for something cloud-based? Local-first?
None of the alternatives I'm about to suggest have Git integrations, AFAIK, but they might fit the bill otherwise:
Appflowy: The closest one to Notion, I'd say. I use it for simple project management and task tracking. I use the free hosted service for this one, but it can be self-hosted: https://appflowy.com/
Nocodb: It's more of an Airtable alternative, but it can also replace Notion's database. I self-host this on Railway and also use the hosted service: https://nocodb.com/
Affine: I used this one very briefly, but it might be something you're interested in as well: https://affine.pro/
@candide Hey thanks for the suggestions! I'm using a wide range of functionality: note-taking, wiki-esque, spreadsheets and interlinked databases. Even rely a bit on the web API for tooling.
I'd like to stay away from anything with potential future licensing or pricing changes, so Affine and Appflowy are out. I haven't checked out Nocodb, so will do that now. I've also tried Zettlr, Foam and Logsec, which weren't to my liking UX-wise.
I think since I've posted this, I've become a bit more radical with requirements: offline-first, preferably doesn't require a server, and definitely with an interchangeable file format.
I've currently landed on Obsidian, which is not FOSS either, but is at least just local markdown files I can use with Git. The interoperability of that makes it quite easy to switch to something else if a better alternative presents itself.
But I'm not sure if it's expansive enough to also use for my wiki needs!
@turbohermit I'm also an Obsidian user, after years of using Logseq and losing a bunch of data with their paid sync service.
I'd day the biggest thing to keep in mind (as someone who did Logseq -> Obsidian, and assumed I'd be ok since they both use Markdown): watch out for those plugins and other non-standard markdown notation/syntax (?) unique to the app in question.
I try to make sure that my notes still work and make sense even if the plugins weren't there.
@candide That's very good advice, thank you!