Joplin

What Is Joplin?

Evernote once owned the note-taking category. Then it raised prices, restricted free accounts, and made decisions that alienated its most loyal users. Many of those users went looking for alternatives — and a significant number of them landed on Joplin, a French open-source project that does something radical in the note-taking space: it gives you complete ownership of your data.

Created by Laurent Cozic in 2017 and developed from Paris, Joplin is a cross-platform note-taking and to-do application built on Markdown. What sets it apart is not just that it is free and open-source (MIT licence), but that it lets you choose where your notes are stored and synced. Use Joplin Cloud (hosted in France), your own Nextcloud server, Dropbox, OneDrive, Amazon S3, or any WebDAV service. Your notes, your storage, your choice.

Joplin has grown from a solo project into a vibrant ecosystem with over 200 community plugins, a web clipper for saving web content, and applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. It participates in Google Summer of Code and has a dedicated community of contributors and users.

The target audience is technical users, privacy-conscious note-takers, Markdown enthusiasts, and anyone migrating away from proprietary note-taking platforms. Joplin does not try to be Notion — it does not do databases, kanban boards, or collaborative workspaces out of the box. It is a note-taking app that does note-taking exceptionally well, with the flexibility to extend it through plugins.

Key Features

Markdown Editor with Live Preview

Joplin's editor is built around Markdown, the lightweight markup language beloved by developers and writers. You write in Markdown on the left panel and see a rendered preview on the right — or toggle to a single-panel view. The Markdown support is comprehensive: headings, lists, tables, code blocks, LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, and embedded images all work. For users who already think in Markdown, this is effortless. For those coming from rich-text editors like Evernote's, there is a learning curve, though the live preview significantly eases the transition.

Bring-Your-Own Sync

Joplin's sync architecture is uniquely flexible. Rather than locking you into a proprietary cloud, it supports multiple sync backends. Joplin Cloud (starting at approximately 3 EUR per month) is the official option, hosted on French servers with EU data residency. But you can equally sync through a self-hosted Nextcloud server, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon S3, or any WebDAV-compatible service. This means you can achieve zero-cloud sync (using a local network server) or leverage existing cloud storage you already pay for.

End-to-end encryption is available regardless of which sync backend you choose. When enabled, all note content is encrypted before leaving your device, meaning even your cloud storage provider cannot read your notes.

Plugin Ecosystem

Joplin's plugin system has matured significantly. Over 200 plugins are available, covering features like backlinks and note graph visualisation, kanban boards, custom templates, enhanced Markdown editors, table of contents generators, and custom CSS themes. Plugin installation is managed within the app — browse the directory, click install, and restart. The quality varies (some plugins are actively maintained, others are abandoned), but the best plugins meaningfully extend Joplin's capabilities.

Notable plugins include the Outline plugin (table of contents sidebar), the Note Tabs plugin (browser-style tabs for open notes), and the Rich Markdown plugin (inline rendering of formatting without a separate preview pane).

Web Clipper

The web clipper browser extension (Chrome and Firefox) lets you save web content directly to Joplin. You can clip entire pages, simplified article views, selected text, or screenshots. Clipped content is converted to Markdown and saved as a note, complete with the source URL. For researchers, students, and anyone who collects web references, this is one of Joplin's most practical features — and it works comparably to Evernote's web clipper, which was long considered the category benchmark.

Cross-Platform and External Editor Support

Joplin runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, with consistent sync across all platforms. A lesser-known but powerful feature is external editor support: you can open any note in an external editor like VS Code, Vim, or Typora, edit with your preferred tools, and changes sync back to Joplin automatically. For developers who live in their code editor, this integration is invaluable.

Pricing

Joplin the application is free. Every feature — Markdown editing, encryption, plugins, web clipper, cross-platform sync — is available at no cost. The only paid component is Joplin Cloud, the official hosted sync service.

Joplin Cloud Basic costs approximately 3 EUR per month for 1 GB of sync storage. Joplin Cloud Pro costs approximately 6 EUR per month for 10 GB and adds priority support and the ability to publish notes as web pages. For users who already have Nextcloud, Dropbox, or OneDrive, sync is effectively free since Joplin uses storage you are already paying for.

Compared to Evernote (approximately 7 EUR per month for Personal, 10 EUR for Professional), Joplin is dramatically cheaper while offering features Evernote does not — end-to-end encryption, open-source transparency, and storage flexibility. The trade-off is interface polish and ease of use, where Evernote still leads.

For budget-conscious users, the self-sync model makes Joplin one of the best-value note-taking applications in existence. You get a fully featured, encrypted, cross-platform note app for literally zero ongoing cost if you bring your own storage.

EU Compliance & Privacy

Joplin Cloud is hosted on servers in France, providing EU data residency for users who choose the official sync service. The open-source codebase means the encryption implementation and data handling are publicly auditable — there is no need to trust Joplin's claims on faith.

End-to-end encryption ensures that even the sync server cannot read your notes. When using self-hosted sync (Nextcloud on your own server, for example), you achieve complete data sovereignty with no third-party access whatsoever.

The app itself collects no telemetry or usage data. There are no analytics SDKs, no crash reporting to third parties, and no advertising frameworks. Joplin is one of the cleanest applications in terms of data minimisation.

Who It's Best For

• Markdown users and developers who want note-taking that integrates with their existing workflow and tools.
• Evernote refugees looking for a privacy-respecting, open-source alternative with import support.
• Privacy-focused individuals who want end-to-end encrypted notes with full control over storage.
• Budget-conscious students and professionals who need powerful note-taking at zero or minimal cost.

The Verdict

Joplin is what happens when open-source software gets the note-taking experience genuinely right. The Markdown editor is capable, the plugin ecosystem adds meaningful flexibility, and the bring-your-own-sync model is a philosophical statement about data ownership that also happens to be practically convenient.

The weaknesses are real: the interface is utilitarian rather than beautiful, there is no collaboration, and the mobile apps are functional rather than delightful. If aesthetics and frictionless onboarding matter to you, Notion or Bear will feel more polished. But if you care about owning your data, encrypting your notes, and not paying a subscription for the privilege of accessing your own thoughts, Joplin is exceptional. It is one of the finest examples of European open-source software serving real user needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Joplin replace Evernote for most users?

For individual note-taking, yes. Joplin covers the core Evernote workflow: notes in notebooks, tags, search, web clipping, cross-platform sync, and attachments. The Evernote import feature handles ENEX files reliably. Where Joplin falls short compared to Evernote is in the polish of its mobile apps, the quality of its OCR (Evernote can search text within images and PDFs more effectively), and the absence of collaborative features. For personal knowledge management, Joplin is a fully viable replacement.

How reliable is Joplin's sync?

Sync reliability depends on your chosen backend. Joplin Cloud is designed specifically for Joplin and works reliably. Nextcloud sync is generally solid but can occasionally have issues with very large note libraries on shared hosting. Dropbox and OneDrive sync are mature and dependable. Conflicts are handled by creating duplicate notes rather than silently merging, which is a safe (if occasionally inconvenient) approach. For most users with reasonable-sized note collections, sync works without incident.

Is Joplin secure enough for sensitive information?

When end-to-end encryption is enabled, Joplin's security model is strong. The encryption uses AES-256, and keys are derived from a master password that never leaves your device. The implementation is open-source and has been reviewed by the community. For most personal and professional use cases, this is more than adequate. For extremely high-security requirements, the ability to self-host the sync server and audit the code provides additional assurance that proprietary alternatives cannot offer.

How does Joplin compare to Obsidian?

Both are Markdown-based note apps with plugin ecosystems. Obsidian stores notes as plain files in a folder (excellent for portability), has a more polished interface, and excels at knowledge graphing through bidirectional links. Joplin stores notes in a database, offers end-to-end encryption natively, and provides more sync flexibility. Obsidian is better for interconnected knowledge bases and visual thinkers. Joplin is better for encrypted sync across devices and traditional notebook-based organisation. Obsidian's sync service is more expensive than Joplin Cloud.

Can I use Joplin for a team or shared knowledge base?

Joplin is designed primarily for individual use. There are no built-in features for shared notebooks, real-time collaboration, or team administration. Some users achieve basic sharing by syncing to a shared cloud folder, but this lacks conflict resolution and is not officially supported. For team knowledge bases, tools like Notion, Outline, or BookStack are more appropriate. Joplin excels as a personal note-taking tool, not a team collaboration platform.