Open-source Drafts alternatives

Memos is a personal timeline for quick notes that you host yourself. The idea is to write first and organize later: you save a thought in Markdown without choosing a title or folder, optionally attach images and files, and it lands on a chronological feed.

Finding things again relies on search, tag filters and a view of any given day on the timeline. You can pin important memos and save frequently used filters as views. New memos are private, and you decide per memo whether to keep it to yourself, show it to signed-in users or invite specific people, or make it public with a link. The project advertises zero telemetry and a full export of your data.

Memos is MIT licensed and built with Go on the back end, React on the front end and SQLite for storage. The quickest way to run it is a Docker container, with other options in the deployment guide, and there is a live demo to try first. Releases follow a year-and-month version scheme.

FSNotes is a native notes app for macOS and iOS built around the idea of owning your notes. Each note is stored as a portable Markdown or plain-text file rather than in a proprietary database, so the notes can be opened with any compatible app now or years later.

The app focuses on writing and quick retrieval. It handles several folders, external editors, sync through iCloud Drive or Dropbox, and Git backups if you want them, and connects ideas with tags and double-bracket links. Private notes can be protected with AES-256 encryption, and it renders code blocks, Mermaid diagrams and MathJax math. Search and navigation are designed to stay smooth across large note collections.

FSNotes is written in Swift and released under the MIT licence. The apps are sold through the App Store, and those purchases support continued development, while the source code is open. It suits Apple users who want local Markdown notes with sync through their own storage service.

Simplenote Electron is the open-source desktop and web client for Simplenote, a note-taking service from Automattic. The app is built with React and packaged with Electron, which lets the same codebase run in a browser and as an installable application, with packages producible for macOS, Windows and Linux.

Notes are synchronized through the Simperium library, and the interface is written in TypeScript with ReactJS. The repository documents how to build packages and how to run unit tests. Local development currently requires an existing account on the test server or access to production credentials, because the email-first signup flow no longer allows creating accounts in the test database, and sharing and publishing features do not work in development builds.

The code is released under GPL-2.0 and follows the coding guidelines used by wp-calypso. As a client for the hosted Simplenote service, it is meant for people who already use that service rather than for self-hosting their own notes server.

Blinko is a card-style note-taking app with AI features, designed for people who want to capture fleeting ideas the moment they happen. It is self-hosted and puts privacy first, so your notes stay on a server you control. The interface is built with Next.js and React in TypeScript, backed by PostgreSQL.

Its AI-enhanced retrieval uses retrieval-augmented generation, so you can find notes by asking in natural language rather than remembering keywords. Notes use Markdown and the project is tagged for memos and notebooks. A live demo, official site, documentation and English and Chinese Telegram communities are linked from the README.

Blinko is licensed under GPL-3.0 and installed on your own server, typically with Docker. It suits individuals who want a private alternative to cloud note and memo apps and are comfortable connecting their own AI provider.

Flatnotes is a self-hosted, database-less note-taking web app that keeps all notes as markdown files in a single flat folder. Its design principle is a distraction-free app that puts note content first: there are no folders or notebooks, only your notes, backed by search and tagging. The code is written in Vue and licensed under the MIT license.

A second principle is that your notes are never held hostage. Because they are ordinary markdown files without a database or proprietary format, you can move them to another app at any time. The only thing flatnotes caches is the search index, which syncs incrementally on every search and at startup, so you can add, edit or delete files outside the app even while it runs.

Features include a mobile-responsive interface, raw and WYSIWYG markdown editor modes, advanced search, tagging, a customizable home page, wikilinks between notes, light and dark themes, a REST API and several authentication options from none to read-only, username and password, or two-factor authentication. A quick full-text search is available with the slash key. A demo resets every 15 minutes, and PikaPods offers hosting.

Heynote is a scratchpad and note-taking app for developers and power users. It works like one large persistent text buffer where you can drop anything: a Slack message you are not ready to send, an API's JSON response, meeting notes or a daily to-do list.

Buffers are divided into blocks, and each block can be assigned a language such as JavaScript, JSON or Markdown, giving syntax highlighting and auto-formatting for JSON. Language auto-detection, multiple buffers in tabs, single and multi-buffer search, inline images, a math and calculator mode with currency conversion, multi-cursor editing, spell checking and dark and light themes are included. A global hotkey can show or hide the app, and key bindings can be default, Emacs-like or custom.

Heynote runs on macOS, Windows and Linux; there is no mobile app. It is built with JavaScript and its license is listed as Other, so check the repository terms before reuse. The author accepts contributions that fit the project's vision, especially bug fixes.