16 self-hosted Bear alternatives

Joplin is an offline-first, privacy-focused note and to-do app with end-to-end encryption, Markdown support, web clipping, and sync across desktop and mobile.

56.1k stars6.2k forkslast commit 26 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Open-source hierarchical notes and personal knowledge base with rich editing, full-text search, encryption, scripting, and optional self-hosted sync and web access.

37.6k stars2.5k forksAGPL-3.0last commit 26 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Open-source, self-hosted AI note-taking app for fast capture and organization, with Markdown notes and RAG-based natural language search.

11k stars774 forksGPL-3.0last commit 25 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Standard Notes is an end-to-end encrypted notes app with secure file storage, offline access, and cross-platform sync, with optional self-hosting of the sync server.

6.6k stars548 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 25 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Basic Memory gives AI assistants durable, local-first memory by reading and writing structured Markdown notes, enabling reusable context across conversations and tools.

3.8k stars262 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 25 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Self-hostable note-taking and knowledge base app with an extended Markdown editor, fast search, tagging, workspaces, sharing permissions, exports, and offline PWA support.

2.4k stars163 forksMITlast commit 26 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Lightweight self-hosted web app for managing checklists and Markdown notes with file-based storage, PGP encryption, REST API and Docker deployment.

2k stars114 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 24 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Minimal, local-first markdown note-taking app built with Svelte and Tailwind; provides desktop (Tauri) and web interfaces with local PGlite storage.

1.7k stars53 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 1 Oct 2025Slowing down

Zen is a minimal self-hosted notes app that stores notes as Markdown with a local SQLite database, featuring fast full-text search, tagging, templates, and low resource usage.

1.2k stars62 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 24 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted note-taking app with desktop, mobile and web clients, open-source code, web clipper, bidirectional links, and a self-hostable sync server.

914 stars69 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 18 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Nextcloud Notes is a distraction-free note-taking app with Markdown support, favorites, and a REST API. Notes are stored as files in your Nextcloud for easy syncing.

734 stars161 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 27 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Plainpad is a lightweight self-hosted note-taking app built with PHP and Laravel. It encrypts notes before storage, supports multiple users, and provides an offline-capable PWA.

438 stars38 forksGPL-3.0last commit 18 Aug 2026Actively maintained

Open-source real-time note-taking and todo app with WYSIWYG editor, JWT auth, role-based access control, and import/export capabilities.

432 stars19 forksGPL-3.0last commit 1 Jun 2025Slowing down

Silicon Notes is a lightweight personal knowledge base built with Flask. It offers Markdown editing, syntax highlighting, backlinks, full-text search, page history, and export/import.

264 stars6 forkslast commit 13 May 2026Actively maintained

Lightweight note-taking app that stores notes as markdown files and folders on the filesystem; offers fast OS-optimized search, Milkdown editor, and Docker support.

155 stars6 forksAGPL-3.0last commit 21 Mar 2026Actively maintained

Turtl is an end-to-end encrypted note-taking and bookmarking app with tagging, full‑text search, and optional self-hosted sync via Turtl Server.

Activity unknown