A GNU Emacs major mode for keeping notes, managing to-do lists, planning projects, and authoring documents in plain text. Files are stored locally on Windows, Mac, and Linux; no account or cloud dependency required.
Org-mode
orgmode.org
Our take
Org-mode is the power-user ceiling in this category: your notes are plain text files you own entirely, you can encrypt individual entries or whole files with GPG, version-control everything with git, and never touch a server you do not control. The honest catch is that it requires Emacs, which has a steep learning curve, and the full feature set is not available outside of Emacs despite third-party tools for mobile and other editors. For technically inclined users who want maximum note sovereignty, nothing else comes close.
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Org-mode alternatives
PrivacyNotes Zero-knowledge notes, tasks, files, passwords and journal secured by a single 12-word recovery phrase, with no email or password required. The crypto core and database schema are published for audit. No subscription model.
Standard Notes Free accounts come with a good set of features already, even in the long run if you are fine with plain text notes.
Notesnook Developers decided recently to open-source their application. Comes with a generous free version, rich text editor and import functionality from: Files (txt, html, and .md…
Joplin Synchronize notes across devices, publish and collaboration are for paid subscriptions only.
Anytype A local-first, end-to-end encrypted knowledge base and note-taking app with peer-to-peer sync, built as a privacy-respecting alternative to Notion.
Cryptee Free accounts come with 100MB storage. Your documents are encrypted before they leave your device, so Cryptee can't see your documents. Use the code "privacytools" at the…