Jotura vs Joplin.
Both store Markdown notes on your own machine, and both are free to install. The first question is where your notes physically live. Here is an honest comparison, including where Joplin wins.
A database, or a folder.
Joplin keeps your notes in a local SQLite database and writes Markdown out when you export. Jotura keeps them as ordinary .md files in an ordinary folder and never reformats them. Its sync is end-to-end encrypted from the start, and it adds sharing with editor and viewer roles, three years of history, a Tags pane and a book reader on Android. Joplin is open source and syncs for free through storage you already have, while Jotura is closed source and its sync costs money with no free trial. If open source, free sync or an iPhone app is a hard requirement, take Joplin and skip the rest of this page.
What each app gives you.
Both are capable Markdown apps. The table is about everything around the editor.
| Feature | Jotura | Joplin |
|---|---|---|
| Where your notes live on disk | plain .md files in an ordinary folder | a local SQLite database, Markdown on export |
| Round-trip fidelity | byte-identical on an unedited save | the database owns the formatting |
| End-to-end encryption | on by default: Argon2id keys, per-file keys, HMAC path ids | a switch you turn on for the sync target you chose |
| Sharing | a note or folder, editor or viewer roles, end-to-end encrypted | notebooks shared with other Joplin Cloud users, on the Pro and Teams plans |
| Version history | 3 years, showing who changed what, on Sync | note revisions kept by the app |
| Tags | inline #tags and frontmatter tags, nested with a slash, and a Tags pane with counts | tags attached to each note in the app |
| Book reader | Android: EPUB, PDF and CBZ, highlights saved as notes | |
| Obsidian vault opens as-is | imported into the database | |
| Open source | AGPL-3.0 | |
| Platforms | Mac, Windows, Linux, Android | Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS |
| iPhone app | ||
| Free sync | Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV and others | |
| Paid sync | £4 a month or £40 a year, no free trial | Joplin Cloud, from 2.99 euros a month, 14-day trial |
| Self-hosted sync server | Joplin Server | |
| Plugins | an established ecosystem | |
| Web clipper | ||
| Publish a note to a public link | notes or whole notebooks, on Joplin Cloud | |
| Whiteboard | on the desktop since 3.7 | |
| Search by meaning | built in on the desktop, on your computer or with your own OpenAI key | built in on the desktop since 3.7, running on your computer, marked beta |
| Search inside PDFs and Word documents | built in | stored as attachments on a note |
| Command-line tool | the jotura CLI, bundled with the desktop app | a terminal client and a REST data API |
Joplin pricing, platforms and licensing as published by Joplin, October 2026.
Where Joplin wins.
If any of these is a requirement for you, we would rather you stayed on Joplin.
- Open source, and auditable. Joplin is AGPL-3.0, so its encryption is code anyone can read. Jotura's client is closed source, which means you are trusting a description of the code. If that difference decides it, take Joplin.
- iPhone and iPad. Joplin runs on iOS today. Jotura is Mac, Windows, Linux and Android, with no iOS app. If your phone is an iPhone, the comparison ends here.
- Sync you already pay for, or host yourself. Joplin separates the app from the sync target. Point it at Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud or WebDAV for nothing, change your mind later, or run Joplin Server on your own hardware under its noncommercial personal use license. Jotura Sync is hosted by Jotura, with no self-hosted equivalent and no free tier.
- Plugins and a web clipper. Joplin has a real plugin ecosystem and a browser clipper for saving pages. Jotura has neither, and does not plan to compete on extensibility.
- Publishing a note as a link. Joplin Cloud can publish a note, or since 3.7 a whole notebook, to a public URL. Jotura has no publish-to-web feature of any kind.
- An AI chat panel and whiteboards. Joplin 3.7 added a chat panel on the desktop that answers questions about your notes, through Joplin Cloud, your own OpenAI or Anthropic key, or a local model, and Joplin marks it beta. The same release added whiteboards for laying notes out on a canvas. Jotura has neither.
Where Jotura wins.
What plain files and the features in the box give you.
- Nothing gets quietly reformatted. A Jotura vault is a folder of .md files with YAML frontmatter, readable by any editor without opening the app. Open a file, save it without editing, and Jotura writes back a byte-identical file. An existing Obsidian vault opens as it is, with no import step. Joplin's notes are rows in SQLite until you export them.
- Encryption from the first sync. Jotura Sync encrypts every note on your device before it leaves, with no switch to find. File names are hashed too, so the server never sees what your notes are called. In Joplin, end-to-end encryption is a setting you turn on for the sync target you chose.
- Sharing with roles, and three years of history. Share a folder or a single note with the people you pick, as editors who can change it or viewers who can only read it. Edits made at the same moment merge, and the share stays end-to-end encrypted to the people you invited. Every synced note keeps three years of history showing what changed and who changed it. Both people need Jotura Sync.
- Tags you can type, and a pane that counts them. Tag a note inline with #recipe or in its frontmatter, and nest tags with a slash, like #travel/japan. The desktop Tags pane lists every tag with how many notes carry it, and one click lists those notes. Type [[ to link another note, and renaming or moving that note later updates every link to it.
- The features you would go looking for are already there. A real table editor, daily notes with a calendar, and a Tasks pane that gathers checkboxes from across the vault all ship in the app, along with task states and due dates. Joplin users reach most of that through plugins, and its plugin community is one of Joplin's strengths, but each plugin is one more thing to keep updated.
- A book reader on Android. EPUB, PDF and CBZ books in your vault open in the Android app. Highlight a passage in one of four colours, add a comment, and Jotura saves it in a Markdown note for that book. Search covers your documents too: drop in a PDF, Word file or spreadsheet and Jotura builds a searchable Markdown mirror of it.
Common questions.
- Does Joplin store my notes as Markdown files?
- Not while the app is using them. Joplin keeps your notes in a local SQLite database and writes Markdown out when you export. That design buys fast queries, note revision history, and one sync engine that behaves the same on every target, and Joplin exports the whole collection to Markdown or its own JEX archive whenever you want, so nothing is trapped. Jotura works the other way around. The folder of .md files is where your notes live while you use them, and the search index can be thrown away and rebuilt from it.
- Is Jotura cheaper than Joplin?
- No. Joplin syncs for free through Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud or WebDAV, and Joplin Cloud starts at 2.99 euros a month for Basic with a 14-day free trial, with Pro at 5.99 euros a month. Jotura Sync is £4 a month or £40 a year with no free trial, and it includes sharing and three years of history. If cost decides it, Joplin wins. Check Joplin's plans page for current figures.
- How do I move my notes from Joplin to Jotura?
- Export with Joplin's MD - Markdown + Front Matter option. That keeps your tags and your created and updated dates in YAML frontmatter, which is the format Jotura reads. The plain MD - Markdown export drops all of it. Point Jotura at the exported folder and it is a vault, with your tags in the Tags pane. Two things do not survive the trip: Joplin's internal note links and its revision history belong to its database, so links may need fixing and history stays in Joplin. Keep your Joplin install until the new vault reads the way you expect.
- Can I share notes with my family or team?
- Yes, with Jotura Sync on both sides. Share a single note or a whole folder, and choose for each person whether they can edit or only read. Two people editing the same note at once get their changes merged, and the share is end-to-end encrypted to the people you invited.
- Can I self-host either app's sync?
- Joplin, yes. Joplin Server is software you run on your own hardware under a noncommercial personal use license. Jotura Sync has no self-hosted equivalent at any price. Because a Jotura vault is an ordinary folder, you can point Syncthing, iCloud Drive or git at it yourself instead, but that path is yours to manage and you give up the built-in merge, the sharing and the version history.
- Is there an iPhone app?
- Joplin has one. Jotura runs on Mac, Windows, Linux and Android, with iOS planned and nothing shipping today. Jotura also has no canvas, while Joplin 3.7 added whiteboards on the desktop. Neither app has a built-in graph view.
Export a copy of your Joplin notes with frontmatter, point Jotura at the folder, and read a few notes before you commit to anything.
More comparisons on the compare page, includingsix Obsidian alternatives side by side.