Documents and notes

Napkin alternatives

2 open-source projects that already do this job. Free to use - not free to run, which is what the numbers on the right are for.

The full assessment →

The projects

laurent22/joplin55,852licence unclearA cross-platform, privacy-focused note-taking app with sync and end-to-end encryption.Open on GitHub streetwriters/notesnook14,378GPL-3.0An end-to-end encrypted, open-source note-taking app with mobile clients and sync.Open on GitHub

What you give up either way

Native iOS polish and UX refinements in the shipped Napkin app
Napkin's claimed EU-hosted encrypted AI stack (if you rely on third‑party APIs)
Any bespoke AI tuning or internal models Napkin runs on its servers

An open-source project doing the core job proves a replacement is possible. It does not prove it matches Napkin, and it does not prove anyone has run it for a month. How we decide.