Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Piruetas – A self-hosted diary app I built for my girlfriend
I searched for a simple, self-hosted journal app for my girlfriend and everything I found was either too complex, too feature-heavy, too feature-less for what I needed or required trusting a cloud service. So I built Piruetas (it means pirouettes in Spanish - she chose the name btw). It's a day-per-page diary with rich text editing, drag-and-drop image uploads, auto-save, public share links, and a clean mobile UI. It can be set up for Personal or Multi-user usage via docker compose deployment. She seems to like it so I decided to give back to the community and make it available for everyone…
Piruetas is a self-hosted diary application featuring a one-entry-per-day format with rich text editing, image uploads via drag-and-drop, automatic saving, and shareable public links. The app includes a mobile-friendly… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1IM
Hey HN, after the app I actually used to track my period wanted me to log in and save my data in the cloud, I decided to write my own. Most apps in this area are based on a subscription model and display far too much information anyway. For me, a simple calendar is enough where I can add a few notes if necessary. So that is the result of my work - a simple design and the data is only saved on the smartphone.
2024 · play.google.com · its alternatives →
- 2
- 3IO
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 →
- 4
Day One 2.0▲266Ground-up rewrite of the best journal for Mac and iPhone
2016 · dayoneapp.com · its alternatives →
- 5
- 6
Papery▲238A journal, habit tracker, mood tracker, todos, all in one
2024 · papery.me · its alternatives →
- 7
- 8
ZenJournal is a minimalist private journaling app for quick logging, search, and discreet writing. Open, type, done. No prompts, titles, or reminders.
2021 · thezenjournal.com · its alternatives →
- 9
We're building an app that helps people manage their schedule, tasks and notes all in one place. The goal is to create a workspace, where people can manage their various priorities, both personal and professional, see a single schedule combined of all their calendars and manage their days without switching between multiple apps. At the moment we've implemented Google calendar synchronisation, basic tasks and notes. Also Emery has some things we really wanted to see in other apps – private notes for meetings, categories that can be used to group tasks/notes/meetings together, weekly…
2022 · emery.to · its alternatives →
- 10IV
Hi everyone - I've been working on this automatic journal for a long time. It takes your photos, makes them look nice, and also journals the places you go just by having your phone in your pocket. Would love your feedback!
2013 · hey.co · its alternatives →
- 11
- 12
Rocket Journal▲218Hi HN! I just launched Rocket Journal, a voice-first journaling app designed to make reflection as easy as talking. Key ideas: Rant mode — vent freely, no judgment Reflect mode — guided prompts to help dig deeper AI insights — mood tracking, patterns, helpful takeaways Stickers & scrapbook — journaling feels lighter and fun Privacy-first — your data isn’t used to train models I built this because journaling apps often feel like “work.” I wanted something that felt like having a safe, responsive companion for those late-night thoughts or walks outside. I’d love feedback from the HN community:…
2025 · rocketjournal.app · its alternatives →
- 13
Hello HN! I wanted to share something we at Good Enough (https://goodenough.us) built over the past month. Pika! https://pika.page I know, I know, who needs more blogging software? In this case, _I DO_. I find that the big players in the market have a distracting number of dials and knobs. I greatly appreciate the indieweb players in the space, but none of those solutions quite fit my way of blogging and so I'd bounce from one to the other to the other. I tried SSGs and my goodness do I dislike the experience of maintaining a website with them. I dislike the SSG…
2024 · pika.page · its alternatives →
- 14
Minimalist sentence-a-day journaling app with daily prompts
2020 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 15
Retro▲244A friends-only photo journal for moments big and small
2023 · retro.app · its alternatives →
- 16IF
Journaling is a great practice to learn more about yourself - if done daily. I tried it multiple times and couldn't stick to it. This project is how I finally fixed it for myself. It works by eliminating my excuses. There is only one question a day that I'll answer - no time spent on "finding the perfect topic". I only need to go to the page - not find my notebook or create a new note/paragraph in another app. I only left myself a relatively small input area, less than a page in a small notebook - that way the commitment doesn't feel too big. I really enjoy the process and it has become…
2022 · dailyprompt.org · its alternatives →
- 17
- 18
I initially released this as just an IOS app. Since then it has been growing steadily but a lot of people have emailed asking for a web / android version. It took me nearly 2 months to build a version for the web. The nice thing about using Convex as my backend is that all the data is always synced between the app and web. I do not have to setup any syncing logic. The moment you change something in the app, it will reflect on the web version in realtime. I know there are loads of these kind of tools online but it's starting to feel like mine is actually starting to differentiate itself…
2025 · three-cells.com · its alternatives →
- 19
Simpluna▲68I've been running Simpluna, a period-tracking app, for six years. It's a company based in Tokyo, Japan, but development and operations are basically a one-person effort. The app is built with React Native (Expo). The defining trait of the app is that it's simple, with no unnecessary features. Recording periods, calculating predictions, and sending notifications — that's the core of it. This space is dominated by big players (Flo, Clue, and in Japan, Luna Luna). Building something similar would have been hopeless, so I made the things those apps don't have my selling point. Optional features…
2021 · simpluna.app · its alternatives →
- 20HA
Heya HN, I started journaling about a year ago and recently landed in my perfect setup, a simple sentence to remember each day, combined with a flexible habit tracker. Over the holidays I turned this approach into a free expo app that I want to share. Basically, you get: - One sentence per day, enough to remember each day. - Flexible habit tracking (still working on finding the best UX here) - No backend, no tracking, all in device (just sentry for errors) - Clean, minimal interface - Export your data - Stats to track your progress I built this primarily for my own use, but I'd love to hear…
2025 · habby.day · its alternatives →
- 21
- 22
Journaling app designed to help you understand yourself
2024 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
- 23
MiTravels▲75A personal diary to journal your travels
2021 · mitravels.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com · its alternatives →
- 24
momentory▲69Mindful journaling app for busy people with busy minds
2022 · okayest.studio · its alternatives →
Also compare
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 →