I have tested Obsidian and Notesnook so far.

There are several things I would like:

  • End to end encryption

  • Synchronisation between different Smartphones (Android) and Computer (Linux und MacOS). An application is preferred over using the browser.

  • Format the notes (rich text editing). Markdown preferred.

  • The ability to export the notes (md and PDF would be great)

  • The ability to add pictures to the notes (Notesnook doesn't allow this on their free plan).

  • The app should be available outside of the Google ecosystem. Same goes for the subscription.

  • A cheap monthly subscription (I'm using the notes in a non commercial way) or one time fee and selfhost.

Things that put Obsidian first in my list (beside some cons I'll list):

Pro:
I really do like many things Obsidian does and offers. The overall UI is great. It's more "visual" (Graph, note structure) than Notesnook in my opinion.
Big collection of (community) plugins (currently it's just "nice to have", nothing important right now).

Cons:
The mobile app is only available through the Google Play store, which is something I would like to avoid as mentioned earlier.
The ability to sync is a paid service with a monthly price of 5 USD (per month, per user).
Its closed source.

To wrap it up: Both (Obsidian and Notesnook) have all the functionality I need for my personal usage but I dislike the price.
Are there other apps including E2EE sync functionality I should look into?

Note: I tested Standard notes but found it to be not intuitive. Should I try it again and invest more time?

    Have your tried Joplin?
    Supports markdown, media attachments, markdown and E2EE (You have to enable it manually)

    You can keep your notes on any kind of sync service like WEBDAV, dropbox and S3.
    They apparently even have an official sync service now as well and the basic plan cost 2.99 euro/month

    Personally tried it some years back but had an issue with sync (used a third party WEBDAV service) not working properly so i switched.

      yellow-leaves

      It took me some time to decide whether or not I should post this because it might sound extremely negative. Please have a look at my last sentence.

      After all it's just personal preference.

      I looked into Joplin but I'm missing some things.

      • Most important for me is the functionality to link to other notes within a text. Did I miss the functionality in the Android version?

      • The UI is a bit too nested in my opinion. For example: To change a text into a heading I have to select the three dots and then select the heading. Sure, I can type markdown in directly.

      • After adding different notebooks incl. some notes I find it difficult to have a good overview over everything. The approach of Obsidian is superior in my opinion (the visualization is better).

      • When editing a note and changing the formatting it shows the md view. Obsidian and Notesnook have a wysiwyg approach which is easier to "understand" for non technical people.

      • When inside a note I have to leave the text insertion mode, out of the notes view and then it shows me the content of the notebook I'm in. Then when tapping the three lines I have the notebooks listed.

      My point here: It takes too long to switch between notes and notebooks.

      • Tag overview just lists all tags used. No clear "connection" between them.

      I have only looked through their Android app. My guess here is, that the version for Linux, MacOS is probably "better" due to the available screensize.

      • Exporting to PDF or other formats is not possible. Sure there are other 3rd party options to convert the Markdown text to PDF but it would be great if the app has the ability in the first place.

      It's really not my intention to bash a project, but there are some things I personally do like better on other projects.

          AcidDemon Most important for me is the functionality to link to other notes within a text. Did I miss the functionality in the Android version?

          Apparently you did miss it. If you open a note and click the 3-dot menu, there is an option to copy a Markdown link that you can paste into another note.

          I cannot disagree with the rest of your critique.

          I'd been using Standard Notes for a while, then switched to Joplin a few months ago because I could sync with a self-hosted Nextcloud instance without having to run an entire server-side backend (like Standard Notes). Can't say I'm a big fan of Joplin, but for my needs it seems like the best option I'm aware of.

            AcidDemon Exporting to PDF or other formats is not possible. Sure there are other 3rd party options to convert the Markdown text to PDF but it would be great if the app has the ability in the first place.

            This is possible in the Linux app.

              fid02

              I looked into Standard Notes again but there is no possibility to test all features of their paid plans before purchase.

              Selfhosting requires a license (39 USD per year).

              I looked through some pictures and the app looks promising though.

              I have to think about the different apps and services and make a decision. The names of possible solutions are in this thread.

              I'm aware of the fact that app development and hosting services involve costs which need to be paid but it's difficult for me to justify high costs just for non commercial usage.

                  AcidDemon I looked into Standard Notes again but there is no possibility to test all features of their paid plans before purchase.

                  In my experience, they honored their refund policy and gave me a full refund when I requested it within the time frame. But no, it doesn't have a free trial akin to Notesnook.

                    AcidDemon
                    You have the right to hold whatever opinion you like.

                    Now that you mention it, I think there was something about the way markdown is handled that rubbed me that wrong way too.

                    I'm really in the same boat as you.
                    I'm also using notesnook right now but I'm considering switching as i find the search functionality inaccurate, the app unpolished and also somewhat buggy at times.

                    If your thinking about going for standard notes i think it's worth mentioning that they've been acquired by proton which could mean that the pricing might change in the future.

                        yellow-leaves

                        Currently I was testing Notesnook on a non grapheneos phone and the App crashed from time to time. So you are not the only one having issues. Someone else here reported similar behavior as well.

                          AcidDemon regarding obsidian sync, you can recreate similar functionality for free by using an application like syncthing to sync your notes folder. i do so with no hitches. doesnt solve your other cons though.