Joplin is free, open source and runs almost everywhere, so people rarely leave it over features. They leave over setup: encryption you have to switch on, and a sync target you have to choose and keep running. NotePrivate put four Joplin alternatives beside Joplin itself, NotePrivate included, and lists every catch with the source next to it.
Prices read from each vendor's own site on 28 September 2026 · Named products are market context, not endorsements
The best Joplin alternative depends on which part of Joplin you want to keep. If you want free, open source and a phone app, but with end-to-end encryption on from the start, Notesnook is the closest match: its free plan is end-to-end encrypted by default and it runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and the web. If you want polished encrypted notes with published source, Standard Notes has a free end-to-end encrypted plan, with Productivity at $90 a year. If you want local Markdown files and plugins, Obsidian is free and sells Sync from $4 a month billed annually, though its files sit on disk unencrypted. If you want a Mac and Windows notes app that is encrypted on your own disk from the first launch, with no server to run and no encryption setting to remember, that is the job NotePrivate is built for. NotePrivate is planned at $59 a year, is not on sale yet, and has no phone or Linux app.
Sources for this Joplin alternative summary: notesnook.com/pricing and notesnook.com/downloads, standardnotes.com/plans, obsidian.md/pricing, and Joplin's own E2EE help page, all read on 28 September 2026. The NotePrivate price is planned, not live.
Joplin and four apps people weigh against it, NotePrivate included. The encryption column asks one question: is every note end-to-end encrypted before you touch a single setting?
| App | Encrypted by default | How sync works | Open source | Platforms | Price, read 28 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NotePrivate | YesVault encrypted on disk from first launch | Optional, as ciphertext through a cloud folder you already use | No | macOS, Windows | $59/year planned, not on sale |
| Joplin | PartialE2EE must be enabled manually | Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or your own Joplin Server | YesAGPL-3.0-or-later | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, terminal | App free; Joplin Cloud Basic 2.99 euros/month or 28.69 euros/year; Pro 57.48 euros/year |
| Notesnook | YesSame on free and paid | Notesnook sync; sync server source published | YesGPLv3 | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, web | Free (50MB storage a month); Essential $19.99/yr; Pro $69.99/yr |
| Standard Notes | Yes | Standard Notes account, or a self-hosted server via Docker | YesAGPL-3.0 | Web, desktop, mobile | Free plain text; Productivity $90/yr; Professional $120/yr |
| Obsidian | NoLocal vault is plain Markdown | Paid Obsidian Sync, or your own file sync | No | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Free; Sync $4/month billed annually or $5 monthly |
Sources for this Joplin alternatives table, all read 28 September 2026: joplinapp.org/plans, joplinapp.org/download, Joplin's E2EE help page, the Joplin README and LICENSE on GitHub; notesnook.com/pricing, notesnook.com/downloads and the Notesnook sync server repository on GitHub; standardnotes.com/plans, the Standard Notes self-hosting guide and its GitHub repository license; obsidian.md/pricing and obsidian.md/download. Joplin prices are listed in euros on Joplin's plans page. The NotePrivate price is planned, not live.
Joplin's feature list is long, so the reasons to leave Joplin are mostly about the work it hands back to you. Each card below names the Joplin source it rests on and where NotePrivate stands.
Joplin's E2EE help page says end-to-end encryption "needs to be manually enabled on a single device first", then on each other device in turn, so that two devices do not create conflicting keys. Until that is done, notes go to the sync target the way you wrote them. NotePrivate has no switch: the vault is encrypted on disk from the first launch.
The Joplin README lists Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and Joplin Cloud as sync options, and Joplin Server can be self-hosted. That freedom is real, and it also means picking a backend, keeping it running and setting encryption on top. NotePrivate syncs as ciphertext through a cloud folder you already have, with no server and no account.
Joplin's plans page lists Basic at 2.99 euros a month or 28.69 euros a year with 2 GB of storage and a 10 MB cap per attachment, and Pro at 57.48 euros a year with 30 GB and 200 MB attachments, read 28 September 2026. NotePrivate has no storage tier, because the vault lives on your own disk and your own cloud folder.
Joplin's help page warns that the master key password "cannot be recovered". That is not a flaw, it is proof Joplin cannot read your notes, and NotePrivate works the same way: no copy of your key sits on a server, so nobody at NotePrivate can reset it. Switching apps does not remove this trade, and any app that can reset your password can read your notes.
Joplin costs nothing unless you buy Joplin Cloud, and its source is published under AGPL-3.0-or-later according to the LICENSE file on GitHub. NotePrivate is closed source and planned at $59 a year. If free and auditable is the reason you picked Joplin, the fix is probably Notesnook or Standard Notes, not NotePrivate.
Roundups of Joplin alternatives mostly list names. This NotePrivate comparison goes app by app on the trade-off, with the vendor source in the same card.
Notesnook's pricing page says the free plan gives unlimited notes on unlimited devices, end-to-end encrypted by default, and its downloads page lists Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and the web, open source under GPLv3. The catch is storage: the free plan includes 50MB of storage a month, Essential is $19.99 a year and Pro is $69.99 a year. Its sync server source is published under AGPLv3 on GitHub. For a Joplin user who wants a phone app and encryption on by default, Notesnook beats NotePrivate today.
Standard Notes' plans page lists end-to-end encryption, offline access, per-note passwords and sync on unlimited devices on the free plan, but the free plan is plain text only. Markdown, rich text, folders and spreadsheets sit on Productivity at $90 a year, and Professional is $120 a year. It can be self-hosted with Docker, per its own self-hosting guide. The Standard Notes versus NotePrivate breakdown walks through what each plan holds back.
Obsidian's pricing page lists the app as free without limits, with Sync at $4 a month billed annually or $5 monthly, and its download page covers Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. Like Joplin, it is loved for plugins and Markdown. Unlike Joplin, it has no built-in encryption setting for the local vault, which stays a folder of plain Markdown files. The encrypted Obsidian alternative page covers that gap in full.
NotePrivate stores every note and attachment in a vault on your Mac or Windows PC, encrypted with a master key wrapped by a password that never leaves the machine. It opens offline, syncs as ciphertext through a cloud folder you already use, and has backlinks with [[ autocomplete, version history, per-note passwords and on-device OCR. The catches: no iPhone, iPad, Android or Linux app, closed source, no published audit, no plugins, and not on sale yet at a planned $59 a year.
The Joplin README lists apps for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS, a Web Clipper for Firefox and Chrome, full text search on every platform, plugins and themes, and end-to-end encrypted sync with Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or Joplin Cloud. No app on this list matches that combination for free. If you only need encryption switched on, switching it on in Joplin is cheaper than moving.
Both come up next to Joplin in search, and neither keeps your notes end-to-end encrypted by default. OneNote keeps notebooks in OneDrive, and Notion is a hosted workspace that needs the company to store your pages. If privacy is why you chose Joplin, they are a step backwards. The private Notion alternative page covers the Notion side of that trade.
Every Joplin alternative detail above comes from the vendor pages named in the comparison table sources, read 28 September 2026. Features and prices change, so check each vendor's own site before moving your notes.
These four questions show up on the search results page for "joplin alternative". Straight answers from NotePrivate, including where NotePrivate is the wrong pick.
Joplin is better for private notes that work offline, and Notion is better for databases, shared pages and team work. Joplin is free and open source, runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and can end-to-end encrypt your notes once you enable encryption yourself. Notion is a hosted workspace, so the company stores your content. If privacy is the deciding factor, Joplin wins that comparison, and NotePrivate is a third option that is encrypted from the first launch on Mac and Windows, with no Linux or phone app yet.
Leaving a Notion workspace rather than Joplin? The NotePrivate page on replacing Notion covers offline access and moving a Notion export across.
For notes you can self-host, Joplin, Notesnook and Standard Notes are the three names with published server code. Joplin Server can be self-hosted, and Joplin also syncs through Nextcloud, which many people already run. Notesnook publishes its sync server under AGPLv3 on GitHub. Standard Notes supports self-hosting through Docker only, per its own guide. NotePrivate is not a self-hosted app, and it does not need to be: there is no server at all, and the encrypted vault syncs through a cloud folder you already control, which removes the second job of keeping a server patched.
Joplin is better if you want Markdown, open source code, a Linux app and end-to-end encryption you control. OneNote is better for handwriting and pen input, and it keeps notebooks in OneDrive under your Microsoft account. Joplin's own import guide covers moving OneNote notebooks across as a ZIP file. NotePrivate does not import OneNote directly, so a OneNote user who wants encrypted notes on Mac and Windows would export to another format first.
On a Windows PC specifically, the encrypted notes app for Windows page covers what OneNote, BitLocker and Notepad leave open.
The best Evernote replacement in 2026 depends on why you are leaving Evernote. For a free app that imports your notebooks, Joplin imports Evernote ENEX files with notes, tags and attachments, according to its import guide. For encrypted notes by default with a free plan and phone apps, Notesnook fits. For an encrypted vault on your own Mac or Windows disk, NotePrivate imports Evernote exports too, at a planned $59 a year and not on sale yet.
The full comparison, including the .enex export steps, is on the encrypted Evernote alternative page.
Most "Joplin alternative for" searches are about a device or a budget. Here is where NotePrivate fits, and where another Joplin alternative is the better call.
NotePrivate is a native Mac app with Touch ID sign-in, auto-lock and lock on sleep, and the vault on your Mac is encrypted at rest, so a copy of the folder without your password is not a readable note. Joplin runs on macOS too and can be encrypted once you enable it. On a Mac that also syncs to an iPhone, Notesnook or Standard Notes is the better Joplin alternative, because NotePrivate has no iPhone app yet.
NotePrivate ships a native Windows installer, and one planned $59 a year license covers the Mac and the PC, with the same encrypted vault opening on both. BitLocker encrypts the drive while the PC is locked, not your notes while you are signed in, which is the gap NotePrivate fills. Joplin, Notesnook and Obsidian also run on Windows.
NotePrivate is the wrong answer here: it has no iPhone, iPad or Android app. Notesnook, Standard Notes and Obsidian all ship phone apps according to their own sites, and Notesnook and Standard Notes encrypt everything by default. If you write mostly on a phone, pick one of those, or stay with Joplin, which also has iOS and Android apps.
NotePrivate does not run on Linux. Notesnook and Obsidian both list Linux builds on their download pages, and Joplin runs there too, including a terminal app. For an encrypted Linux notes app with encryption on by default, Notesnook is the one on this list.
Notesnook (GPLv3) and Standard Notes (AGPL-3.0) are the free, open source Joplin alternatives that encrypt end to end by default. Notesnook's free plan includes 50MB of storage a month, and Standard Notes' free plan is plain text only. NotePrivate is neither free nor open source, so it only makes sense if encryption on your own disk without any setup is worth $59 a year to you.
Joplin and Obsidian are both free with plugins and Markdown, and the difference is encryption and storage. Joplin can end-to-end encrypt your notes and its sync once you enable it. Obsidian keeps a folder of plain Markdown files and only encrypts the copy on its paid Sync service. If you want neither trade, NotePrivate encrypts the vault on disk by default and still exports every note as Markdown, which the NotePrivate encrypted Markdown notes page explains.
Joplin exports Markdown and NotePrivate imports Markdown, so moving from Joplin to NotePrivate is a folder copy, not a conversion. Five steps, in the order that saves you tidying twice.
Joplin's export formats are listed in its import and export guide and in its source code on GitHub, read 28 September 2026. The NotePrivate homepage runs four tests any private notes app should pass, and covers the full setup in five steps.
Switching has a cost. Here is where Joplin keeps the advantage over NotePrivate, said plainly.
Joplin has Android and iOS apps and NotePrivate has neither yet. If you capture notes on a phone all day, stay with Joplin or move to Notesnook, and no encryption argument changes that.
The Joplin app is free, and so is syncing it through Nextcloud, Dropbox or OneDrive. NotePrivate is planned at $59 a year with no free tier, so if the budget is zero, keep Joplin and enable its encryption.
Joplin publishes its source under AGPL-3.0-or-later. NotePrivate is closed source with no published audit, so if auditable code is your bar, Joplin, Notesnook and Standard Notes all clear it and NotePrivate does not.
Joplin supports plugins and themes and has a Web Clipper for Firefox and Chrome. NotePrivate ships one fixed feature set with no plugin system, though it does save web pages as encrypted offline copies inside the vault.
Joplin runs on Linux, including a terminal app, and NotePrivate does not run on Linux at all. There is no workaround to offer.
This is the one NotePrivate takes. If you want a Joplin alternative where every note is encrypted on your own Mac or Windows disk from the first launch, with no sync server and no setting to forget, NotePrivate is worth joining the waitlist for.
No. Joplin supports end-to-end encryption on all its apps, but its own help page says E2EE needs to be manually enabled on a single device first, then on your other devices. The master key password cannot be recovered if you lose it. NotePrivate encrypts the vault on your disk from the first launch, with no setting to enable.
Yes, through Markdown. Export from Joplin as Markdown, then import that folder into NotePrivate, which reads Markdown files and rebuilds the folder tree. There is no direct Joplin JEX import, so keep a JEX export from Joplin as a backup until you have checked your attachments and links in NotePrivate.
No. NotePrivate has no server to run and no account. The encrypted vault syncs between your Mac and Windows PC through a cloud folder you already use, so the provider stores ciphertext it cannot read. If you would rather not sync at all, NotePrivate is complete on a single machine.
The Joplin app is free, and Joplin Cloud Basic is 2.99 euros a month or 28.69 euros a year on Joplin's plans page, read 28 September 2026. NotePrivate has a planned price of $59 a year for macOS and Windows with every feature included and no free tier. NotePrivate is not on sale yet, so the only step today is joining the waitlist.
No. Joplin publishes its source under AGPL-3.0-or-later, and NotePrivate is closed source with no published security audit. If open source is a requirement, Notesnook and Standard Notes are open source Joplin alternatives that encrypt end to end by default.
Not yet. NotePrivate runs on macOS and Windows only, while Joplin has Android and iOS apps. If you write mostly on a phone, Joplin, Notesnook or Standard Notes is the better choice today.
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