I currently keep my notes and learning materials in a work-managed OneNote account, but I want a separate tool for personal reference. I'd like something suitable for documenting commands, procedures, new tools, and general technical learning, with the ability to paste screenshots and attachments. Ideally it should work across devices, avoid a recurring subscription, and either store data locally or support self-hosting. What tools have worked well for you?
4 Answers
Obsidian is probably the most common recommendation. It stores everything as regular Markdown files, so your notes remain portable and easy to back up. You can paste screenshots directly into notes, organize attachments in folders, and add features through plugins if needed. For syncing, you can use a shared cloud folder, Git, Syncthing, or your own sync setup instead of paying for the official service.
Take a look at Joplin. It feels closer to a traditional notebook application than Obsidian, supports notebooks, Markdown, images, and attachments, and has desktop and mobile clients. You can sync through a storage provider or run your own sync server. It also supports note encryption, which is useful for personal technical material.
If you want a browser-based self-hosted knowledge base, Trilium Notes or TriliumNext are worth checking out. You run the service in Docker or on a small virtual machine and access it from your devices through a web interface. It handles hierarchical notes, screenshots, attachments, and cross-links well, so there’s no need to synchronize a local vault between several computers.
I moved to Trilium for exactly that reason. It’s less polished than Obsidian in some areas, but having one self-hosted instance avoids dealing with sync conflicts. I keep sensitive credentials and secrets somewhere else rather than in the notes server.
For documentation that may eventually be shared with a team, BookStack, Wiki.js, or DokuWiki are better choices than a personal notebook. They provide structured pages, search, images, and permissions, and can be backed up like any other self-hosted service. For purely personal notes, though, Obsidian or Joplin will usually be quicker and less maintenance-heavy.
The plain-text storage is the biggest advantage for me. Even if I stop using Obsidian later, I can still open the files with a normal editor or move them into another documentation system.