Open Source Notes and Markdown apps - Zettlr wins!

Published 2023-12-13
I tried out a bunch of markdown editors and note taking foss apps and this is what I found.

Software:

Zettlr - www.zettlr.com/
LiteXL - lite-xl.com/
VSCodium - vscodium.com/
Marktext - www.marktext.cc/
Joplin - joplinapp.org/
Ghostwriter: packages.debian.org/search?keywords=ghostwriter
QOwnNotes: www.qownnotes.org/
Lapce - lapce.dev/
My lapce shell script installation: github.com/drewgrif/bookworm-scripts/blob/main/lap…

=== Contents of this Video ===
0:00 - Intro
1:54 - Lapce
2:45 - QOwnNotes
3:29 - Ghostwriter
4:39 - Joplin
5:25 - Marktext
7:35 - VSCodium
12:27 - Zettlr
19:29 - Lite XL again ...buh-bye

Proton Mail:
pr.tn/ref/CBK96TN0ZDAG

Github:
github.com/drewgrif/

Twitter:
twitter.com/JustAGuyLinux

All Comments (21)
  • @liquidmobius
    What an awesome video! And for me very timely as well. I'm writing a programming tutorial in pure markdown and had no idea VS codium had that live preview feature! I've got it opened right now, typing away being super productive! I'll probably definitely check out Ghostwriter too. You are awesome 👍
  • Great video. I don't code, but I've been on this note kick too for many different purposes. I've settled on Obsidian and Anytype for heavy lifting where I need templated note pages for mapping ideas / project tasks / concepts. The plugin ecosystem for Obsidian is very cool but Anytype is easier to jump into until I have a better handle on these apps. I like ZiM for a simple notebook based note taker (supports simple markdown and note linking). And Zettlr and Joplin occupy the same duty space in my mind. I settled on Joplin just out of personal preference.
  • @camlockerby7892
    Really great. Liked to see more of linking (bidirectional) between notes, searching/tagging, but I suppose many of these programs wouldn't do anyways being md editors vs note organizational tools. I'm not a linux user yet, but I subbbed just for your software hints. You did change pace when you entered into the details of using Zettlr, showcasing. Although showcasing zettlr was the most interesting for me(as a brand new user), it could have been another video on its own. But I understand you were justifying why zettlr came out on top.
  • @MendenLama
    Zettlr seems to do a decent job, indeed. All of the markdown editors are basically transforming markdown into html and show a html preview. This is obviously the reason why vscode shines (its clones as well) because it has a web browser engine under its hood. A command line addict might go a route with pandoc. That's what I mostly do: Editing a file in vim, running a script with pandoc from inside vim to transform it into html and preview this in a side-by-side web browser window.
  • @rijaja
    I gravitated Joplin because I need to be able to access my notes from my phone too but I see why you prefer Zettlr. Thanks for the good recommandations
  • Zettlr wins on latex and citation management. That's pro-grade. Understand research writing and pre-pub, versus second brain. Pretty decent and vanilla, like I want. It adds features, beyond Logseq. Lapce is mostly a code editor. I use it for Rust, replaces VSCode and Sublime. The bonus of Lapce for straight text file notes, is the sidepanel search but it would need work because switching project folders is clunky. I wouldn't think Lapce is for notes or second brain. It replaced all my code editors though. I'm gonna say....Anytype + Zettlr. Anytype for second brain, Zettlr to formalize papers. Anytype can overtake Obsidian because of the graph, table, kanban. Hard choices
  • @ex0ja
    I like Logseq in the office for daily notes and meeting notes. I find the journal works really well. I dont do stuff like paste in images and links etc. so maybe it doesnt work grest for that. I do find it a bit buggy, e.g. sometimes it's super slow to open, nothing too bad though. At home I use Obsidian for writing notes and linking ideas together.
  • @pnddesign
    I went to that rabbit hole. I can’t recommend enough . That app isn’t oss, but that have so many oss components, it make the trade off worth it. There is a plug in the commit automatically.
  • @shawnmiguel
    Dont know if youve tried the Dendron Extension on vs code yet, its a pretty good way to take notes in markdown format
  • @AS-bg5kg
    Sir, I watch your vidoes regularly. Today please permit me to make a request. Can you make a vid on lmde6 btrfs install in expert install mode so that we can control the mount options of the subvols? Also when we do regular install the subvols are mounted with "default" options, any idea what the defaults are ? And if it is possible to modify the defaults? Because i tried editing the mount optins in the fstab and ended up in tty after reboot. Please help.
  • @mrtetillas7504
    Use Joplin from the beginning, try to use other soft such as Logseq and Zettlr, both stop being good but they are electro ... if joplin also but being more minimal and being better optimized I can use it in my PC potato and with the plus that I can use it on the phone something crucial for me. Logseq and Zettlr are too heavy and slow, Joplin is not perfect but it meets, in the future I am going to go to Orgmode or I will make my own notes software
  • @mostafa.abohadid
    are you using windows, if so what is the themes you're using and the apps that make the taskbar look like this
  • @esra_erimez
    Subbed. Any friend of Matt's is a friend of mine
  • @PHDWhom
    Nothing beats pen and paper.
  • @bitwise4996
    Unfortunately this app is made using web technologies making it very heavy and memory taxing. There are other good UI frameworks that run like butter but people nowadays use JS/TS for everything.