Frustrated after testing multiple self-hosted note apps — what am I missing?
Hey everyone. After weeks of testing, I'm still searching for the right self-hosted notes app. Here's what I've tried and why each one didn't work for me:
Obsidian — too painful to set up on the VPS, and even using it locally with Syncthing I wasn't happy with the editing experience: clicking one line jumps to another, selecting a word selects several others, the constant switching between edit/preview modes is annoying.
Anytype — I was starting to understand how it works, but the gap between desktop and mobile experience was a dealbreaker. Queries don't render on mobile, and basic things like paragraph indentation don't work on the app.
Joplin — same Markdown/webview problem. That split-mode dynamic just doesn't work for me in any app. Sync is also not real-time — it only syncs every 5 minutes or when you manually press the button.
SiYuan — honestly the best editor experience so far, but browser-only access is a dealbreaker on mobile. Every time I tap the shortcut it opens a new tab, which makes it completely impractical.
Notesnook — also a great editor, on par with SiYuan. But I'm not willing to spin up 8+ containers, open that many ports and configure multiple subdomains. And the free tier is too limited to stay on.
What I'm looking for:
- Self-hosted on a VPS (Oracle Cloud ARM)
- Free / open-source
- Simple installation — max 2-3 containers, no domain required for now (I'll configure Nginx later)
- Decent mobile experience — browser shortcuts opening a new tab every time is a no-go. At minimum, the mobile version should render everything the desktop does
- WYSIWYG editor — no Markdown knowledge required, no dual view modes
- I can drop advanced features like databases/tables if the basic editing is solid
With the help of AI, I got the following alternatives:
- Configure Nginx Proxy Manager and HTTPS to enable PWA support and solve the new tab problem
- Set up MinIO on the VPS and use it as an S3-compatible storage, which would allow me to use the native app
In short, the ideal software for me would be UpNote, but self-hosted.