A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
For Example
We welcome posts that include suggestions for good self-hosted alternatives to popular online services, how they are better, or how they give back control of your data. Also include hints and tips for less technical readers.
Useful Lists
I just hate the interface and the small width of the writing window.
You know that you can just edit the notes files with any texteditor you like on any system that is, at least, capable of webdav? I edit my notes with my iphone on the default "notes" app, as example.
I use Obsidian with self-hosted live-sync from here: https://github.com/vrtmrz/obsidian-livesync/
Basically you have a couchDB hosted in your homelab to store your obsidian data and then the obsidian self hosted live sync plugin that runs on your devices connects to your self hosted database and sync your notes there in an optimized. I tried both this and sincronizing via github and I prefer this, because is faster and less intrusive
I set up a VSCode server on my Raspberry Pi, run rclone bisync every half hour which syncs text files with a designated folder on my Synology NAS, and I can have access to all my notes, which are all text files.
Check this out I just found out about it it's open source self hosted and free
https://www.usememos.com/
I made Note Mark which uses markdown and only has a web app. I have lots of feature ideas that I will add in the future. However it currently does not have any collaborative features if that is a necessary requirement.
Outline, has OICD, sharing and more. Downside: No apps, only web.
Trillium works nice, only bad thing compared to obsidian is that the files are not stored as plain text, but otherwise it's preeeety feature rich.
Outline recently added support for local storage instead of S3. Authentication is the only other common self-hosted pain point, but given you're looking for OIDC anyway, I don't see why it wouldn't be a viable option.
My journey:
Joplin -> Trilium Notes -> Logseq -> Obsidian
I find Obsidian the most powerfull, because of the PlugIn system and full compatiblity with Android and iPad.
And I realized, it's a stupid idea to have a "knowledge base" in a Docker setup, if you need this knowledge base also for debugging or reinstall your Homelab. So the local installation of Obsidian togeter with Synchting gives you always access to your knowledge, even if the server are down.
However, none of the above have collaborate features. But don't need it.
Nextcloud Notes for Personal stuff, to-do lists, grocery lists etc. I heavily utilize Nextcloud in my personal life. My server is fairly optimized and performant, the syncing is great, mobile app is decent and overall, it "just works" for me. It's also really nice having all that stuff in one place.
silverbullet.md for homelab notes, personal wiki-like articles and stuff of that nature. I love the interface and markdown support. It's easy to use, the search feature is really nice and it has modular functionality (using plugins). It's running on a vm fronted by a reverse proxy (for SSL) so I can easily hit from any device on the lan.
I've been using openproject to take notes. I created a project for different areas of my life...then tasks and sub tasks. There's a wiki, calendar, attach files, associate tasks with other tasks. Then when I'm through with a "project" like testing Nextcloud, I close that project. It archives so all the data and hides it so it's not in my immediate view anymore but I can still reference it.
The free version supports ldap and 2fa. So it should fit in with Authentik or something similar for SSO.
I've found this pretty effective for much of my home lab work, especially for keeping track of applications I want to try. OneNote was getting too cluttered with old projects that I didn't continue for one reason or another.
I just use Obsidian with Synchthing to sync devices
I'll throw hedgedoc in the mix. We use it for TONS of work at my small company. I wish it had better search, and organize sticky notes. I'm praying the new version comes out. Anyway we love it with all its flaws.
I really enjoy Joplin
Joplin could be an option. It can sync either off a cloud drive like Dropbox, or to a server. There is a Joplin cloud which is pretty inexpensive, or you can self host. Joplin can do encryption locally (E2E) before syncing.
Joplin does abstract away the notes files, but its all stored as markdown and the export will give you your notes in a nice human readable folder+file structure.