AcidDemon I have come to prefer Standard Notes over Notesnook. Their free plan is very limited, but the paid plans I think tick all the boxes you mentioned – except I wouldn't call them cheap. For me the price is worth it though. They have a selfhosting plan which is cheaper: https://standardnotes.com/help/48/can-i-use-extensions-with-a-self-hosted-server
Notetaking app and E2EE sync service
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.
Nextcloud with Notes (https://github.com/nextcloud/notes-android) can do this if E2E is enabled.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
