Jotura
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Notion alternatives.

Six apps people move to when they leave Notion, grouped by whether your notes end up as files you can open with anything. For each one you get what it is, who it suits, and the limitation you will hit. Jotura is ours, and it is in the list on the same terms as the rest.

How this list is ordered.

By the one thing that decides how easy it is to leave again: where the app keeps the live copy of your notes. The first three keep it as files in a folder, so switching costs a change of app and nothing else. The last three keep it in their own store, so switching means an export first, and in exchange two of them give you something closer to Notion's databases. Within each group the apps are alphabetical, so nothing is ranked.

Apps that keep your notes as files.

Your folder is the live copy, so any other program can open it, though none of these three has anything like Notion's databases.

Jotura

What it isA free notes app for the desktop and Android whose vault is an ordinary folder of .md files. It opens an existing folder of Markdown without an import step, and an Obsidian vault gets nothing written into it until you edit something. Saving a file you did not change returns a byte-identical file. It has wikilinks with a [[ picker, nested tags with a Tags pane, daily notes with a calendar, a Tasks pane that gathers your checklists, a real table editor, keyword search that covers 10,000 notes in about 8 milliseconds, and search by meaning on the desktop that runs on-device or through OpenAI under your own key.

Who it suitsSomeone who used Notion mostly to write, and wants those documents to stay files they own. Optional Sync adds end-to-end encrypted sharing of a folder or a single note with editor and viewer roles and three years of version history with attribution. Dropped-in PDFs and Word files become searchable, and the Android app reads EPUB, PDF and CBZ books and saves your highlights as a Markdown note per book.

The honest limitationThere are no databases, so properties, relations, rollups, board views and timelines are all missing, and those are what most people open Notion for. On mobile it runs on Android only, with no iOS app. It has no plugins, graph view or publish-to-web, and it is closed source, so you are trusting our description of the app because you cannot read the code. Sync is £4 a month or £40 a year with no free trial. This is our app, and these are the limits we would want to read before downloading it.

Logseq

What it isAn open source outliner under the AGPL where every line is a block with its own identity, so you can reference or embed any block anywhere in the graph. It has a graph view, plugins and community themes, spaced-repetition flashcards, whiteboards in Logseq OG, a query language based on Datalog, and Zotero integration.

Who it suitsPeople who think in bullets and block references. If what you liked about Notion was nesting and toggling your way through an outline, Logseq is closer to that feeling than a plain Markdown editor is, and its journals and its TODO and LATER system collect daily work well.

The honest limitationThe 2.0 beta, released on 13 July 2026, moves the canonical store into a local SQLite database, so Markdown becomes an export rather than the live source. The file-based app continues as Logseq OG, maintained with fixes but no new features. Logseq OG also rewrites files in its own outline dialect, adding property lines such as id:: to blocks, which shows up in every diff. It has queries but no database properties or views in the Notion sense. Logseq Sync is $5 a month.

Obsidian

What it isThe best-known Markdown vault app, with a folder of .md files as the live copy. Thousands of community plugins, a graph view, canvas, and a core plugin called Bases that turns notes with frontmatter properties into table, list, cards, kanban and map views, with filters and formulas over those properties. Its Importer plugin reads a Notion export, and Obsidian's own documentation recommends the HTML export over the Markdown one, because the Markdown export omits data the importer wants.

Who it suitsAnyone who wants a large ecosystem and does not want to give up structured views entirely. If your Notion use was documents plus a few simple tracker databases, Bases and a couple of plugins get you a lot of the way back.

The honest limitationThe extensibility has a cost, because much of what people show off is a plugin someone maintains in their spare time, and a setup assembled from ten of them is yours to keep working. Closed source, with sync at $4 to $8 a month and publishing at $8 a month, both billed annually. There is no end-to-end encrypted way to share a folder with another person, and no real-time co-editing.

Apps that keep your notes in their own store.

A database or an encrypted store owns the live copy. That is what buys databases and views, and it means an export before you move on.

Anytype

What it isA local-first workspace where everything is an object with a type and relations, organised into spaces. It is peer-to-peer and end-to-end encrypted, and the any-sync protocol behind it is MIT licensed and can be self-hosted. Clients cover Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. Sets and collections give you queryable views over objects, which is the closest structural match to Notion databases in this list.

Who it suitsSomeone who wants Notion's shape, typed objects and relations and views, without Notion's server reading the contents. The free tier syncs through Anytype's network with 100 MB of remote storage, and devices on the same local network can also sync with each other directly.

The honest limitationYour data lives in Anytype's own local store, and Markdown is what you get when you export from it. The applications ship under the Any Source Available License 1.0 rather than a standard open source license, even though the sync protocol is MIT. The object model takes real effort to learn, and it is a different mental model again from both Notion and plain files.

AppFlowy

What it isAn open source workspace under the AGPLv3 that targets Notion's feature set directly: documents, plus databases with grid, board and calendar views. Data is kept in a local database, the server can be self-hosted, and it runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. Signed in to AppFlowy Cloud it imports a Notion export zip, and it imports Markdown and CSV files.

Who it suitsAnyone whose first requirement is open source and self-hosting, who still needs databases and views. Of everything here it is the most direct swap for how a Notion workspace is laid out.

The honest limitationYour notes are rows in a local database until you export them. The hosted free plan is for a single workspace owner, with 100 MB of storage and 7 days of version history, and Pro is $16 per member a month billed annually or $20 monthly. Feature parity with Notion is the goal rather than the current state, so check the specific thing you depend on before you commit.

Joplin

What it isAn open source notes app under the AGPL-3.0 that keeps your notes in a local SQLite database and writes Markdown out when you export. It separates the app from the sync target, so it syncs free through Dropbox, OneDrive, Nextcloud or WebDAV, through Joplin Cloud from 2.99 euros a month with a 14-day trial, or through Joplin Server on your own hardware. It has plugins, a web clipper, and can publish a note to a public link on Joplin Cloud.

Who it suitsAnyone whose first requirement is open source, an iPhone app, and sync that costs nothing because it rides storage they already pay for. Joplin and Obsidian both have web clippers, and Jotura has none.

The honest limitationThere are no databases or views, so the whole structure is notebooks with notes inside them. Your notes are rows in a database until you export them, so other tools and scripts cannot work on the live notes. Export needs the MD - Markdown + Front Matter option to keep tags and dates, because the plain Markdown export drops both.

The five questions that usually decide it.

Storage model, whether it has databases, licensing, whether your phone is an iPhone, and what sync costs.

AppNotes on diskDatabases and viewsOpen sourceiPhoneSync
Joturaplain .md files£4 a month or £40 a year, no free trial
LogseqMarkdown in Logseq OG, SQLite from 2.0Datalog queries insteadAGPLLogseq Sync, $5 a month
Obsidianplain .md filesBases gives views over note propertiesObsidian Sync, $4 to $8 a month billed annually
Anytypeits own local store, Markdown on exportobjects, relations, setsapps are source available, any-sync is MITfree within storage limits, or self-host
AppFlowylocal databasegrid, board, calendarAGPLv3free plan, Pro $16 a member a month annually, or self-host
JoplinSQLite database, Markdown on exportAGPL-3.0free via your own storage, or Joplin Cloud from 2.99 euros a month

Pricing, platforms, and licensing as published by each app, October 2026.

What you give up leaving Notion.

Read this before you download anything, because these costs tend to surface a week after the move, when you go looking for a board view that is no longer there.

  • Databases with typed properties. Every Notion page inside a database carries structured fields you can filter, sort and group. Only Anytype and AppFlowy offer the same idea. Obsidian's Bases builds views over frontmatter properties, which covers simple trackers. Jotura, Logseq and Joplin have nothing equivalent.
  • Relations and rollups. One database reading from another, counting its children, or rolling up a date is the feature people miss first and can rebuild least. Anytype's relations are the nearest match. In a folder of Markdown files the nearest substitute is a link from one note to another.
  • Views over one set of data. In Notion a board and a timeline can be two faces of the same rows. AppFlowy has grid, board and calendar. Everywhere else you are back to a folder, a query, or a table you maintain by hand.
  • Publishing to the web. Notion Sites turns a page and its subpages into a public website, publishing any number of pages on one notion.site domain even on the free plan. Joplin Cloud publishes a single note to a link, Logseq publishes a graph, and Obsidian Publish is a separate $8 a month billed annually. Jotura has no publish-to-web feature at any price.
  • Real-time collaboration. Notion gives you live cursors in the same paragraph, block-level comments, teamspaces, and free guests. AppFlowy has real-time editing on its hosted plans, Anytype shares spaces over its network, and Logseq 2.0 has real-time collaboration in alpha. The rest show no one else's edits live, Jotura included: it merges concurrent edits on a 5 second poll rather than showing you someone else's cursor.

Where Notion still wins.

Anyone who works this way is better off staying where they are.

  • The database model, end to end. Notion has properties, relations, rollups, formulas, and seven view types over the same rows. Nothing on this page matches all of it, and two of the six do not attempt it.
  • Templates you can duplicate in one click. Notion's template gallery and the community around it mean most workflows already exist. Every app here is smaller, and some have no gallery at all.
  • A free tier that includes sync. One person gets unlimited blocks, sync everywhere, and 7 days of page history for nothing, with a 5MB cap per file and a block ceiling once a second member joins. Jotura Sync is a paid subscription with no free trial.
  • AI inside the workspace. Notion's AI writes in the page, autofills database properties, transcribes meetings, searches across connected tools like Slack and Google Drive, and runs multi-step agents. AppFlowy is the only app in this list that builds in comparable AI.
  • Reach. Notion runs on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows and any browser. Jotura has no iOS app and no web app, and Notion has no official Linux desktop app, which is the one place that comparison turns around.

Notion pricing, plan limits, and platforms as published by Notion, October 2026.

Common questions.

Which Notion alternative is closest to Notion?
AppFlowy, because it sets out to cover the same ground: documents plus databases with grid, board and calendar views, open source under the AGPLv3, and self-hostable. Anytype is the next closest in shape, with typed objects, relations and sets, though its mental model is its own rather than a copy of Notion's. The three file-based apps are a different kind of tool, and choosing one means deciding you wanted the writing rather than the databases.
Which ones keep my notes as files I can open with anything?
Jotura, Obsidian, and Logseq OG. In all three, the folder is the live copy, so any other program can read it and leaving costs nothing but a change of app. Anytype, AppFlowy, Joplin and Logseq 2.0 hold the live copy in their own store, so getting your notes out means running an export first. All of them export Markdown, so nothing is trapped, but the export is a step you have to remember.
Which ones are open source?
Logseq under the AGPL, Joplin under the AGPL-3.0, and AppFlowy under the AGPLv3. Anytype is a halfway case: the any-sync protocol is MIT licensed, but the applications ship under the Any Source Available License 1.0, which is source available rather than open source. Jotura and Obsidian are closed source. If reading the code is your bar, that rules Jotura out, and we would rather say so here than let you find out later.
Can I keep my Notion databases if I move?
Partly, and only into the apps that have databases. AppFlowy Cloud imports a Notion export zip and Obsidian's Importer converts databases into Bases through the Notion API. Everywhere else, Notion's own Markdown and CSV export gives you one CSV file per database plus a Markdown file per page, so the values survive as a table and the views, relations, rollups and formulas do not. The migration guide walks through what that leaves you with.
Which ones have an iPhone app?
Logseq, Obsidian, Anytype, AppFlowy and Joplin all do. Jotura is Android only on mobile, with no iOS app and no web app today. If an iPhone is non-negotiable, that cuts the list to five.
Do any of them replace real-time collaboration?
Not at Notion's level. AppFlowy has real-time collaboration on its hosted plans, Anytype shares spaces with other members, and Logseq's 2.0 beta has real-time collaboration marked alpha. Jotura shares a folder or a note with editor and viewer roles, merges concurrent edits automatically, and polls every 5 seconds, which suits two or three people rather than a company wiki. Obsidian shares a whole vault through Sync and Joplin Cloud shares notebooks, and neither shows you another person's edits live.

Whichever way you go, export your Notion workspace first and keep the zip. It is the only complete record of what Notion held.

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Head to head with Notion: Jotura vs Notion. Doing the move: the Notion to Markdown guide.