Best Free & Open Source Alternatives to Google Keep

Joplin is a free, open-source note-taking and to-do application designed with privacy at its core. It supports markdown editing and organises notes into notebooks with tags, making it easy to structure large collections of notes.

One of its standout features is end-to-end encryption combined with flexible sync options — you can sync via Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive, or your own server. This makes Joplin a strong self-hosted alternative to Evernote, removing the need to trust a proprietary cloud with your data.

Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, Joplin also supports a web clipper browser extension for capturing web content. It is scriptable via plugins and has an active community ecosystem, making it suitable for both casual note-takers and power users.

Files.md is a minimal, local-first note-taking application built around plain Markdown files. Unlike complex knowledge management tools, it focuses on simplicity and portability: there is no build system, no database, and no vendor lock-in. You open web/index.html in your browser and start writing.

The app supports notes, documents, projects, journals, habits, checklists, and tasks. All data lives in local .md files that you fully own. A Telegram bot provides on-the-go access, and the server is a single binary for those who want self-hosted sync. The project is deliberately small enough that a single developer (or an LLM) can understand the entire codebase.

Compared to Notion, Obsidian, or Evernote, Files.md trades advanced features for extreme simplicity and data ownership. There are no plugins, no graph views, and no AI workflows—just plain text files that work offline and sync via iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

NoteDiscovery is an open-source, self-hosted knowledge base designed for personal note-taking and knowledge management. Built with a modern JavaScript stack and FastAPI backend, it provides a clean interface for capturing and organizing your thoughts.

The application supports markdown formatting, making it easy to write and format notes. It is designed around the Zettelkasten methodology, a powerful system for connecting ideas and building a personal knowledge network.

As a self-hosted solution, NoteDiscovery gives you complete control over your data and privacy. It can be easily deployed using Docker, making setup straightforward for users familiar with containerization. Whether you are looking to replace Notion, Evernote, or Obsidian with a privacy-focused alternative, NoteDiscovery offers a compelling option.

Atomic is a self-hosted personal knowledge base that stores information as atoms — markdown notes that are automatically chunked, embedded, and linked by semantic similarity. It builds a knowledge graph from your notes and lets you explore connections on a spatial canvas powered by force-directed layout.

Key features include semantic vector search (sqlite-vec), LLM-powered wiki synthesis that generates articles from your notes with inline citations, an agentic chat interface for RAG-style conversations with your knowledge base, automatic tag extraction, RSS feed sync, a browser extension for web clipping, and an MCP server for Claude integration. AI providers are pluggable — use OpenRouter for cloud models or Ollama for fully local AI.

Atomic runs as a Tauri desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux), a self-hosted Docker server, or deployed to Fly.io. A native iOS SwiftUI app is also available. Compared to Obsidian, Atomic has AI-powered synthesis and semantic search built in without plugins; compared to NotebookLM, it is fully self-hosted and supports local AI via Ollama; compared to Notion, it is open source and designed around a personal, linked knowledge graph rather than collaborative databases.

kuku is an open-source, local-first Markdown workspace for macOS designed for people who want their notes to stay portable, private, and useful to AI. It edits ordinary .md files in a local vault, then layers search, graph navigation, AI assistance, Second Brain workflows, and encrypted sync on top.

The app connects notes with [[wikilinks]], backlinks, and 2D/3D graph navigation, turning your vault into a personal wiki. AI features include Agent, Ask, and Inline editing modes with diff-based approval, so proposed changes are always reviewable before they are applied. Decision documents help AI context improve explicitly over time by turning proposals into traceable memory and wiki updates.

Built as a full-stack open-source project, kuku includes the macOS client, web app, Go server, protobuf contracts, Rust AI/indexing crates, and Docker infrastructure. You can use it entirely offline, sign in for managed convenience, or self-host the complete stack yourself.

Jotty is a minimalist, self-hosted note-taking and checklist application built for simplicity and control. It stores notes as plain files, giving you full ownership of your data without relying on any proprietary sync service.

Designed for homelab and personal use, Jotty covers everyday productivity needs — quick notes, to-do lists, and checklists — without the complexity of feature-heavy tools like Notion. It is lightweight by design, making it easy to deploy and maintain on your own infrastructure.

With Docker-based deployment, Jotty is a practical choice for self-hosters who want a fast, no-frills notes manager that stays out of the way.

Anchor is an offline-first, self-hostable note-taking application built around speed, privacy, and reliability across web and mobile. Notes are stored locally, fully editable without an internet connection, and synced across devices when you come back online, so your data is always available and always under your control.

The app ships with a rich text editor (bold, italic, underline, headings, lists, checkboxes), custom tags with colors, image and audio attachments, customizable note backgrounds, pinning, archiving, and a soft-delete trash with a recovery period. Notes can be shared with other users on the same instance as either viewers or editors, and an admin panel handles user management, registration control, and system statistics. Authentication is handled locally or via any OIDC provider such as Pocket ID, Authelia, Authentik, or Keycloak.

Unlike Google Keep, which is locked to Google's ecosystem and account system, Anchor runs as a single Docker container (with an optional external PostgreSQL database) that you host on your own infrastructure. There is no telemetry, no vendor lock-in, and your notes never leave your server unless you explicitly share them. It is a great fit for anyone who wants Keep's lightweight feel combined with the privacy, portability, and long-term control of self-hosted software.