Joplin

What Joplin does

Joplin is a personal note-taking and to-do app that keeps everything on your devices first and syncs second. Notes are written in Markdown (a rich text editor is also available) and organized into notebooks and tags, which will feel familiar to anyone coming from Evernote. There are apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, plus a terminal client.

The Evernote importer reads ENEX export files and can convert notes either to Markdown or keep them as HTML, so formatting-heavy notes survive the move. A Web Clipper for Firefox and Chrome saves web content into Joplin through the app’s local Data API, and a plugin system and themes let you extend the app.

Sync and encryption

Joplin does not tie you to one sync service. You can sync through Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, any WebDAV server, S3, Dropbox, OneDrive or a folder on disk, so a Nextcloud or WebDAV server you already run is enough to sync between devices without any Joplin-specific server.

End-to-end encryption is available on every app but is off by default. You enable it on one device, which creates a master key protected by your password; the key is then synced to your other devices, where you enter the same password. The password cannot be recovered, so losing it means losing access to the encrypted notes.

Self-hosting Joplin

There are two ways to self-host. The simple one is to point the apps at storage you control, such as Nextcloud, WebDAV or S3. The second is Joplin Server, the project’s own sync server, which runs with Docker and uses SQLite for testing and PostgreSQL in production. Joplin Server adds notebook sharing and collaboration features that plain file sync does not offer.

Joplin Server is not open source, though. Its directory carries a Personal Use License that permits non-commercial use only, and companies are pointed to a paid Joplin Server Business license. The note apps themselves are AGPL-3.0-or-later.

Hosted version

Joplin Cloud is the developers’ paid sync service, with notebook sharing, collaboration and publishing of notes to the web. The plans page says servers and data are in France. A trial is offered; there is no free Cloud plan, but sync through your own storage costs nothing.

Limitations

Joplin is a personal notes app. There is no real-time collaborative editing, and sharing notebooks with other people needs Joplin Cloud or Joplin Server. Encryption has to be turned on manually and has no password recovery. Organizations that want to run the official server need the commercial license rather than an open source one.

Who it suits

Joplin fits people leaving Evernote who want a similar notebook model, apps on every platform and sync they can host on their own Nextcloud or WebDAV server. It is also a good fit for anyone who wants plain Markdown notes with optional encryption. Teams looking for a shared knowledge base should look at a wiki such as BookStack or Docmost instead; see the notes and knowledge base guide for the differences.