The Best Desktop Alternatives in 2026

Manage knowledge and collaborate with Logseq, an open-source platform described by its project as privacy-first.

Trilium Notes supports building a personal knowledge base, as described by the project page.

SwarmVault combines a local-first LLM wiki with a knowledge graph, RAG knowledge base, and agent memory store.

VNote is a Qt-based open-source note-taking application that combines note management with editing for Markdown, Typst, plain text and code, mind maps, and PDF reading on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

MediaWiki is collaborative editing software that runs Wikipedia; this GitHub repository is a mirror of the project.

The Obsidian Google Drive Sync plugin synchronizes notes across devices using Google Drive.

Note Discovery describes itself as a self-hosted knowledge base, according to its repository page.

Tolaria organizes notes as Markdown files and describes itself as a second-brain app.

wikmd uses Markdown files for its wiki and supports Git version control.

Memos supports short notes without titles or folders as an open-source, self-hosted app.

Standard Notes is an end-to-end encrypted note-taking app for capturing notes and files, according to its repository description.

Org-roam is a Roam-inspired note-taking project built around Org-mode, as stated in its repository description.

A fully open source and end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote.

This repository implements an open-source alternative to NotebookLM with additional flexibility.

SilentNotes synchronizes notes between Android and Windows devices, according to its repository description.

DokuWiki provides an open-source wiki engine, according to its project repository.

Xournal++ supports handwritten note-taking and PDF annotation on Linux, macOS, and Windows, including pen input from devices such as Wacom tablets.

Butterfly supports handwritten note-taking, drawing, and organizing ideas in an open-source endless workspace.

Manage Markdown knowledge bases with Tolaria, a desktop app described by its project page.

SiYuan offers a self-hosted knowledge workspace described as open-source and privacy-first, with collaboration for people and AI agents.

WikiDocs is a flat-file wiki built with Markdown and does not require a database, according to its repository description.

Saber supports handwriting in an open-source app designed for use across platforms, according to its project description.

Simplenote Electron provides the Simplenote app for Web, Windows, and Linux, according to its project description.

KeyNote NF offers a tabbed notebook with a rich-text editor, nested notes, and encryption, according to its project description.