Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Sonse, a note-taking CLI for plaintext enthusiasts
Sonse is a command-line note-taking tool designed for developers and plaintext enthusiasts. It allows users to create, manage, and organize notes directly from the terminal using plain text format. The tool integrates… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Sonse, a note-taking CLI for plaintext enthusiasts launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
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A command line simple note taking app. Contribute to wsw70/note development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 2

Daily notes command line tool. Contribute to tomlockwood/dn development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
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2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
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Hey! I made Heynote entirely for my own use case. For many years, I always had an Emacs instance running with the scratch buffer open, even long after I had abandoned Emacs as my programming editor in favor of more recent IDE:s. The simplicity of having just one big scratch buffer appeals to me, but I still want to separate the different things I jot down somehow (without using tabs or similar). Previously, my solution was to insert a bunch of blank lines between the notes, but hitting C-A would still select the entire buffer. That's why I came up with the concept of "blocks", which turned…
2023 · heynote.com · its alternatives →
- 5

CLI and local web plain text note‑taking, bookmarking, and archiving with linking, tagging, filtering, search, Git versioning & syncing, Pandoc conversion, + more, in a single portable script. - xwmx/nb
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6

MicroPad is a free non-linear note taking app that allows for easy organisation of all of your notes and notebooks.
2018 · getmicropad.com · its alternatives →
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Build your personal knowledge base with Trilium Notes - TriliumNext/Trilium
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10

n.py − very simple note taking cli tool
2021 · git.bitmycode.com · its alternatives →
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Simple tool for creating and organizing daily notes on the command line - dkaslovsky/textnote
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 13AC
2018 · hawth.bitbucket.io · its alternatives →
- 14

:pencil: Simple delightful note taking, with more unix and less lock-in. - pimterry/notes
2016 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 15

Noteship is a note taking app for Mac that combines notes, todos, and reminders and is based on simple files and folders.
2021 · noteship.com · its alternatives →
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- 17TA
2015 · bracewel.net · its alternatives →
- 18

A command line text editor written in Node.js, focused on JavaScript. - tome/README.md at main · boutell/tome
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19NC
2021 · notes.cx · its alternatives →
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PeekNote▲176Lightweight always-on-top notes for devs & multitaskers
2025 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →
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Rich-cli is a command line toolbox for fancy output in the terminal - Textualize/rich-cli
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24

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- Heynote – A dedicated scratchpad for developers alternatives
- CLI plain-text notes & bookmarks with Git, sync, encryption, and more alternatives
- Open source non-linear notepad app 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 →