Was going to say the same. Obsidian has very little proprietary stuff in it, other than maybe some plugins users may elect to use. Other than that, it's just folders full of markdown files.
Father_Redbeard
joined 2 years ago
Same here. Works well.
Seafile is great...with caveats that seem to bother people away from it:
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Files are stored as git-like chunks on the server
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Features behind a paywall for more than 3 users (Pro vs Comminity versions)
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Documentation can be very confusing at times
Item 1 can be mitigated by utilizing tools like Rclone to mount the files on the server, reassembling the chunks, then back up and unmount when done. Item 2 isn't a deal breaker for me.
It is super fast and reliable in my experience. I specify wanted the selective sync because my stupid MacBook has a tiny SSD, but I still wanted access to files from other device libraries.
I've tried 'em all. And I am always on the lookout for new apps that can do what I want. So far, Obsidian is the best.
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Joplin: adds meta data to your text files making it nearly impossible to find anything outside of Joplin unless you export
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Logseq: the closest substitute to Obsidian. The android app is almost unusable in my testing. And it's an outlined based note app, so it requires a different mindset
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Silverbullet: such a neat project. The PWA runs great on every device I've tried it on. That said, I find it hard to navigate and will require more learning to take full advantage of its features
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Nextcloud Notes: decent if you already have an instance running. Not worth it just for Notes though. It's very spartan, feature-wise
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Quillpad: the closest Google Keep alternative I've found so far. Does require Nextcloud insurance to sync though. At least currently.
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Acreom: very cool project. Similar to Obsidian and Logseq. Local first.....unless you're on mobile, then you are required to have an account and use their sync.
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Notesnook: has great features but does not store the notes on plain text (due to encryption), which is a deal breaker for my use case
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Memos: very easy to selfhost. Think of it like a personal twitter feed. Stores entries in a db file, so it's out for me
I tested others, and many didnt last long enough in my testing to even be worth writing about. I find Obsidian's folder hierarchy easier to fit around how my brain works. And the plain text files in folders, maintaining the hierarchy, is a killer feature for me. Lots of folks self host a sync solution. And I want to but am currently paying for their basic sync plan of $5/mo.
Source?
Something to think about, if it's important to you. I went through this same journey. I had been using Day one, which is a beautiful app. But I began considering what would happen to those entries when I'm dead and gone. It's important that my wife and kids can read through the years if the desire. That lead me in a search for something that has the most "future proof" journaling approach. Something that would still be easily readable without a bunch of exporting or conversion should the company go out of business.
Obsidian is one of many apps that at its core, is simple text files in folders on your local machine(s). As others have said you can self host rather than paying for their home grown sync solution. I've tried Joplin, Logseq, Trillium, Memos, and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. They have all had some level of dealbreaker for me. Like Logseq has a horrible android app. Memos stores entries inside a database, so not easily retrievable. And Joplin adds meta data to the contents of your text files as well as screwing up the file/folder names to something that isn't human readable. So I've stuck with Obsidian. It's not open source, but the file format is platform agnostic and can be read by just about any computer or mobile device made in decades.
That said, you won't get the calendar features with dates/locations of photos like you mentioned unless someone has made a plugin for it.
I've found the PWA adequate for my phone usage. I found a custom CSS that is sort of a Gruvbox that I really like.
Miniflux is great. I use Wallabag as my read it later app and selfhost both on a cheap VPS. They're tightly integrated but Miniflux supports several other integrations
Honestly it seems like Obsidian is the one matching most of your criteria. $4/mo isn't bad for a bullet proof sync solution with version history, imo. I also have my vault backed up on each client locally for extra protection.
I'd love to suggest Logseq because FOSS, but man does the android app suck.
That said, I find Obsidian really lacks in the simple to-do/checklist function. So I use Quillpad synced to my Nextcloud server for Google Keep-like functionality. Everything else goes into Obsidian.
I have used Nebo as well and instead of exporting I did a select all, copy and paste. Not very elegant but it did work to sort of "convert" to markdown.
And the file names are not the note titles like Obsidian (and logseq I believe)
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Pretty big caveat to that though. Joplin names the individual text files some huge hexadecimal value, unlike Obsidian (and maybe Loseq). And it appends some meta data in the file itself.
I personally felt this was unacceptable for my use case. And if Logseq's android app wasn't so bad, is be using it instead of Obsidian.