Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Octarine – a fast, lightweight, opinionated Markdown notes app

Hey HN! I’ve been building [Octarine](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;octarine.app&#x2F;) for a little over 2 years. It started because I wanted a note-taking app that was: - Lightweight (< 30MB, fast to launch, no Electron bloat). - Opinionated (good defaults, clean UI, not a plugin bazaar). - Yours (all plain Markdown, nothing proprietary). --- - Command bar (Cmd&#x2F;Ctrl+K) to navigate and run commands quickly. - WYSIWYG editor (rich text without live preview jumping). - Git sync built-in — backups to GitHub&#x2F;GitLab, no plugins. - Natural language dates (“yesterday”, “last week”). - Multiple…

Octarine is a lightweight Markdown notes app designed for users who want a fast, streamlined alternative to heavy note-taking tools. Under 30MB with no Electron bloat, it features a WYSIWYG editor, built-in Git sync to… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

1. 1
   NotesHub: cross-platform, Markdown-based note-taking app▲147

   Thank you for your comments, just some context: - The app is available for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, and the Web. - The Web version is implemented as a Progressive Web Application that is very responsive, local first, offline first, can be installed, and is entirely free to use. - Native (hybrid) versions do not require subscription fees and have small one-time payment. - You can store your notes in Git using any Git provider such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. However, it has the best built-in integration with GitHub. Self-hosted scenarios like Gitea are also…

   2024 · about.noteshub.app · its alternatives →

2. 2
   Dumbnote▲141

   Offline-first Markdown note app. No lock-in. Just write.

   2025 · dumbnote.app · its alternatives →

3. 3
   An open-source, collaborative, WYSIWYG Markdown editor▲460

   Inspired by the design and UI&#x2F;UX of apps like Notion, and utility of open-source apps like StackEdit, I decided to create a minimalistic, local-only WYSIWYG Markdown editor. Some features worth highlighting: - Monaco editor and Prettier integration for code snippets - Tables (apparently the holy grail of WYSIWYG editing) - Embeds (for CodePen, CodeSandbox and YouTube, most useful for HTML or JSON exports) - Accepts Markdown paste-in, and "exports"&#x2F;generates HTML, Markdown and JSON outputs - Collaboration (with real-time awareness and initial commenting system, available only when…

   2023 · editor.vrite.io · its alternatives →

4. 4
   Unforget, the note-taking app I always wanted: offline first, encrypted▲274

   Hi HN! I created Unforget out of years of frustration with Google Keep and the lack of alternative that met all my needs. I hope you find it useful too! Features include: - import from Google Keep - offline first including search - sync when online - own your data and fully encrypted - Desktop, mobile, web - lightweight, progressive web app without Electron.js - markdown support - programmable with public APIs - open source [1] While I still use org mode for long-form notes with lots of code, Unforget has become my go-to for quickly jotting down ideas and to-do lists after migrating the…

   2024 · unforget.computing-den.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Minimalist editor that lives in browser, stores everything in the URL▲468

   I wanted to see how far I could go building a notes app using only what modern browsers already provide – no frameworks, no storage APIs, no build step. What it does: Single HTML file, no deps, 111 loc Notes live in the URL hash (shareable links!) Auto-compressed with CompressionStream Plain-text editor (contenteditable) History support Page title from first # heading Respects light&#x2F;dark mode No storage, cookies, or tracking The entire app is the page source. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;textarea.my&#x2F;

   Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Octolens▲354

   Hi Hacker News, Octolens is a social listening tool that helps early stage B2B software companies find social posts with buy signals. I use Octolens to grow our business daily, this is how: I track keywords related to our solved pain points, brand, and competitors. Octolens finds posts across sites like Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and more, then assesses them with AI for relevance and buying signals. I receive alerts about highly relevant posts in Slack. I then engage with these posts to connect and convert potential customers. As cold outbound becomes more challenging with AI automation and email…

   Jul 2026 · octolens.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Dim Notes▲331

   Auto-tags your thoughts

   Nov 2025 · thedim.app · its alternatives →

8. 8
   I made a Note-Taking app for people who keep texting themselves▲219

   This project began when I realized that despite trying many fantastic note-taking apps, I often defaulted to dumping notes into chat apps like Slack or iMessage. I wanted to bring that effortless “text yourself” note-taking experience to a dedicated note-taking app. Originally developed as a macOS app, Strflow is now also available for iOS. Strflow is designed to make note-taking as quick and intuitive as possible, centered around a chronological timeline UI. Here are some of its features: * Tag system * Rich editor with text formatting, images, and note linking * Global shortcuts for quick…

   2024 · strflow.app · its alternatives →

9. 9EN
   Edna, note taking app for developers▲331

   I took a small break from coding SumatraPDF and wrote a note taking application that is perfect for me: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edna.arslexis.io&#x2F; Edna is a note taking app for developers and power users. A cross between Obsidian and Notational Velocity. Markdown, plain text, code, works in browser so no installation required, private (notes are stored in your browser or disk) and secure (can encrypt notes with a password). The story so far. I was always attracted to editors with minimalistic UI, like https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mak.ink&#x2F;, simplenote, Notational Velocity. I like having most of the…

   2024 · edna.arslexis.io · its alternatives →

10. 10IO
    Ichinichi – One note per day, E2E encrypted, local-first▲136

    Look, every journaling app out there wants you to organize things into folders and tags and templates. I just wanted to write something down every day. So I built this. One note per day. That's the whole deal. - Can't edit yesterday. What's done is done. Keeps you from fussing over old entries instead of writing today's. - Year view with dots showing which days you actually wrote. It's a streak chart. Works better than it should. - No signup required. Opens right up, stores everything locally in your browser. Optional cloud sync if you want it - E2E encrypted with AES-GCM, zero-knowledge,…

    Mar 2026 · its alternatives →

11. 11
    An open source alternative to Evernote (Self Hosted)▲241

    An open source, markdown-based, self-hosted note taking webapp. - batnoter/batnoter

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

12. 12
    Noteless - A Markdown-based note-taking app for Android▲34

    A Markdown-based note-taking app for mobile devices. - redsolver/noteless

    2020 · github.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    NotesHub 2.x▲74

    Markdown based note-taking app with git sync & kanban boards

    2023 · about.noteshub.app · its alternatives →

14. 14
    NotesHub 3.3▲135

    Fully cross-platform, Markdown-based note-taking app

    2024 · about.noteshub.app · its alternatives →

15. 15
    NerdyNotes▲176

    Markdown note taking app for developers

    2025 · nerdynotes.app · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Notable – A Markdown-based note-taking app that doesn't suck▲124

    The Markdown-based note-taking app that doesn't suck. - notable/notable

    2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

17. 17
    NotesHub▲95

    Fully cross-platform, markdown based note-taking app

    2021 · about.noteshub.app · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Journelly for iOS: like tweeting but for your eyes only (in plain text)▲81

    On iOS, I've flip-flopped back and forth between a bunch of note-taking and journaling apps. None would stick. My initial attempts at building such an app faded just the same, until I realized I wanted the same level of low-friction posting and browsing offered by social media apps, but for my quick notes. Not social, just easy posting, search, and a familiar feed. This is how Journelly came to be. I like to describe it as: tweeting, but for your eyes only (fully offline and in plain text). If you’re an Org markup user, you’ll be delighted to know it’s powered by unicorns under the hood. If…

    2025 · xenodium.com · its alternatives →

19. 19
    NotesHub 3.0▲87

    Fully cross-platform, markdown-based note-taking app

    2023 · about.noteshub.app · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Kvak.io – Online Notepad▲90

    A simple collaborative note-taking app

    2020 · kvak.io · its alternatives →

21. 21
    A Markdown Notepad App▲57

    A markdown notepad app. Contribute to kenforthewin/noted development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    OctoNote 2.0▲3

    GitHub-powered markdown notes, redesigned for modern devices

    Dec 2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

23. 23LR
    Lightwave – Real-time notes app, 3.5 years of hand-rolled JavaScript▲52

    Hi HN! I've been building this solo for about three and a half years. I kept trying every new project&#x2F;notes tool (Notion, Asana, Trello, etc.) and always ended up back in a plain text file. I wanted something that felt like a text editor on first touch but could grow into real structure when you needed it. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lightwave.so (desktop only) The tech stack is Laravel, MySQL, Redis, and hand-rolled JavaScript on the client. No frameworks like React&#x2F;Vue&#x2F;etc. ~270 lines of jQuery (out of 80k+ total LOC) for a few legacy DOM utilities, plus IndexedDB for local…

    Feb 2026 · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Collate: Cross platform note taking app based on plain text data format▲85

    Welcome to the Collate Blog! As our first blog post, let’s kick things off with the...

    2017 · collatenotes.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →