Best Note Taking Apps · head-to-head

Joplin vs Amplenote

A sourced, side-by-side comparison for note taking apps. Joplin has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.

Joplin has the lower entry price — Joplin starts at $0/mo, Amplenote at $0/mo. Free tier: Joplin Yes, Amplenote Yes. HIPAA: Joplin —, Amplenote —.

As of 2026-09-10 · figures link to their source below

Side by side

Joplin

$0/mo entry
Entry price$0/mo (Joplin app (self-managed sync))
Free tierYes
HIPAA (BAA)
SOC 2
GDPRYes
Best forOpen-source purists who want an exit hatch from any vendor

Amplenote

$0/mo entry
Entry price$0/mo (Personal)
Free tierYes
HIPAA (BAA)
SOC 2
GDPR
Best forPeople who want notes and a real task scheduler in one app

Sources — Joplin: joplinapp.org (verified 2026-09-10) · Amplenote: amplenote.com (verified 2026-09-10)

Key features

Joplin: Fully open-source app with an open note format and optional end-to-end encryption; Self-host the server yourself, or use Joplin Cloud hosted in Paris, France; Publish any note to a public URL and collaborate on shared notebooks; Plugins, custom themes and a choice of Rich Text or Markdown editors

Amplenote: Task scheduling with scored, recurring tasks tied to the notes that created them; Vault Notes encrypted client-side with a key the servers never receive; Peek viewer for drag-and-dropping content between several open notes; Desktop MCP server exposing the account to LLM clients

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