Notes and knowledge

What HN commenters recommend, ranked by distinct recommenders. Under each: what people praise most and the most common caveat, or the strongest quote where there is no summary yet.

1. 1.
   Obsidian · 78 recommenders · 5 warn
   Loved for Plain Markdown files, AI agent integration · Caveat Sync and data bugs
2. 2.
   Org mode · 29 recommenders · 3 warn
   Loved for Notes and tasks, Plain text · Caveat Emacs lock-in
3. 3.
   LLogseq · 8 recommenders · 1 warns
   Loved for Open source, Fits their thinking · Caveat Slow development
4. 4.
   Notion · 7 recommenders · 10 warn
   Loved for API and integrations, Docs and knowledge · Caveat Slowness
5. 5.
   AApple Notes · 5 recommenders · 2 warn
   Loved for Quick capture, Simplicity · Caveat Data lock-in
6. 6.
   Joplin · 5 recommenders · 1 warns
   Loved for Evernote replacement, Bring-your-own sync · Caveat Complexity
7. 7.
   LLedge.sh · 5 recommenders · 1 warns
   Loved for Runnable docs, Process automation · Caveat Not for critical work
8. 8.
   TreeSheets · 4 recommenders
   I love it as a note-taking application for anything that complexity-wise sits between a short outline in a plain text file and a ton of Markdown
9. 9.
   Workflowy · 4 recommenders
   I Use Workflowy. The features it adds over plain text/markdown are worth the slight added complexity.
10. 10.
    Google Keep · 3 recommenders
    The only note taking app I’ve found to be fun to browse is Google Keep. I love the layout
11. 11.
    TTrilium · 3 recommenders
    You should look at https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium. It's what I use every day for the things that you mentioned.
12. 12.
    BBeorg · 3 recommenders
    I've just started playing with it, but so far it seems quite good.
13. 13.
    Tolaria · 3 recommenders
    It is like you have taken all the things I want from Obsidian (plus plug-ins) and made them into a single, well designed app.
14. 14.
    MarkEdit · 3 recommenders
    There's also MarkEdit[0], which is essentially "TextEdit for Markdown"
15. 15.
    SilverBullet · 3 recommenders
    I have been using it since February 2025. Loving it.
16. 16.
    Typora · 3 recommenders
    typora is actually one time purchase and one of the rare apps that is priced well with good business model.
17. 17.
    Asciidoctor · 3 recommenders
    it's quite old, it's battle-tested, and offers me many options to produce various forms of output
18. 18.
    JJSDoc · 3 recommenders · 1 warns
    It's awesome stuff, and I'm happy that TypeScript works so well with JSDoc!
19. 19.
    AsciiDoc · 3 recommenders · 2 warn