Joplin
ProductivityA note-taking app for desktop, mobile and terminal that syncs through your own storage or a Joplin server, with optional end-to-end encryption.
Open-source alternative to:
What the free edition leaves out
The free edition is genuinely usable, but some team or enterprise features need a paid plan. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Not confirmed | The plans page does not mention SSO or SAML. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Not confirmed | The plans page lists share permissions on Teams and Business plans; roles were not otherwise checked. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Not confirmed | Not mentioned on the pages read. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Paid | The plans page lists managing multiple users only on Teams (cloud) and Business (self-hosted). The Joplin Server Personal Use License limits free use to personal non-commercial use. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The sync docs do not cover backups. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Not confirmed | A data API was not read. | – |
| Support SLA | Paid | The plans page lists priority support on Teams and Business plans. No SLA terms were found. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Individuals who want a private, cross-platform note app with sync through storage they choose and end-to-end encryption.
Why choose it over Evernote
The apps are AGPL-3.0-or-later and can sync through storage you control (Nextcloud, S3, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive or the local filesystem), so no account with the project is required. The docs state E2EE is supported on all the applications.
Where it falls short
Joplin Server, the self-hosted sync server, is not open source: its Personal Use License only covers personal non-commercial use, and organisations must buy Joplin Server Business. Multi-user management, share permissions and priority support are listed only on the paid Teams and Business plans. The logo is not free to reuse. Feature depth against Evernote has not been compared.
Open-source alternative to
- Evernote — Joplin is a note-taking and notebook app with sync across devices and web clipping, so it is a like-for-like replacement for personal note storage.
Category
ProductivityTopics
Tech stack
TypeScript
JavaScript
RustLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
