I love the idea of having all my quick notes, to-do lists, knowledge base, journal, plans, etc., in one single, neatly organized place. Why wouldn’t I? But deciding on which Notion alternative to use is overwhelming.

There are so many options, and all claim to be the best. Online opinions are all over the place (as expected), and these apps aren’t exactly simple—they’re complex for good reasons, but that makes choosing one even harder. And don’t get me started on the endless YouTube videos on the topic—I could spend weeks or months researching this and testing every single one of them, but honestly, this is not how I wanna spend my time so I will ask you guys instead.

My Current Setup:

  • Markor: Used it for quick thoughts, journaling, and to-do lists but stopped using it because it’s not suited for everything, and there’s no sync between Android and Linux (becsuse it is android only).

  • Obsidian: Currently using it as my knowledge base and for long notes, simple to-do lists, and occasional journaling. Haven’t fully migrated to it or created an organized setup because I’m looking for a FOSS Notion alternative.

  • Standard Notes: Good for quick notes, but most features are paywalled, making it feel limited.

  • jtx Board: My go-to for journaling—it’s simple and quick to use.

What I need:

  • FOSS, but only if it’s just as good as proprietary options in:
    • Auto-sync between my Android phone and Linux desktop
    • Journaling
    • Quick notes
    • To-do lists
    • Planning
    • Managing personal projects
    • Writing down thoughts
    • A really good Android app
    • Easy to use
    • Free for personal use

What I don’t care about:

Collaboration. This is for my personal use—no sharing, no team features.

Given my messy current setup and specific requirements, can anyone give me some recommendations?

    • kata1ystEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      If you’re concerned, you can use an android firewall to block Internet access from the app aside from your sync server.

      But to be clear, the concern voiced in that thread is not the privileges that obsidian has, it’s that other apps can read the obsidian notes. So your risk profile will vary with what notes you take.

      • trolololol@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        If I got it right, file access in latest Android versions must ask permissions to the user, so it should be not an issue for you

        • jimi_henrik@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          3 days ago

          Obsidian asks for the permission upon first launch, but if you don’t give it access it won’t work at all (it’s a required permission for the app).

      • jimi_henrik@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        you can use an android firewall to block Internet access from the app

        True, however, AFAIK if your phone is not rooted, you can’t have a firewall and VPN running at the same time (the firewalls I’ve seen must be configured as VPN).

        not the privileges that obsidian has

        Also true, although Obsidian has access to that shared storage, and therefore, Obsidian being closed source, you have no way of knowing what they do with the files other apps create in that storage directory. I’m not saying they are acting maliciously, but I don’t like this approach (software vulnerabilities, supply chain attacks, etc.). The devs recognized the issue in another thread, but there’s no solution to the problem as of yet.