Find your fit
Who it is for
Joplin suits an individual or small team that wants a searchable collection of working notes with control over where sync happens. It can serve a project knowledge base, but plan selection matters if several people need to publish, edit or restrict shared notebooks.
It is especially relevant when offline access and portable exports matter. A prospective team should test its actual mix of desktop and mobile devices, attachment sizes and sync target before moving a large notebook collection.
The work it supports
Core capabilities
Organise and retrieve. Keep notes and to-dos in notebooks, tag and search them, and continue reading or editing local notes without a network connection. Sync catches the changes up through the selected target when connectivity returns.
Capture material. Attach documents and media to a note, or use the Chrome or Firefox web clipper to save a page or screenshot. The current help warns that attachments above 10 MB are not supported on mobile and can break its synchronisation, so trial representative files.
Choose a sync destination. Joplin documents Joplin Cloud, Nextcloud, S3, WebDAV, Dropbox, OneDrive and local filesystem options. Set up the intended target and check that changes reach each device.
Encrypt synchronised notes. End-to-end encryption can be enabled across the apps, beginning on one device and then syncing the key to others. Keep the master-key password safely: the project says it cannot recover a forgotten one.
Share notebooks. Joplin Cloud can invite collaborators who view and modify a shared notebook. Teams adds a read-only permission choice; check that tier before sharing material that recipients must not edit.
Recover earlier note text. Revisions sync between devices and the desktop app can view and restore them. Set retention consistently, because the shortest setting on any synced device can delete older versions everywhere.
Move data in and out. Import Evernote ENEX or Markdown collections and export a JEX archive with notes and metadata. Sample complex formatting and internal links after import; HTML and PDF export are also available for selected material.
Understand the offer
Pricing and getting started
The Joplin application itself is free and open source. Joplin Cloud is an optional paid managed sync and sharing service, billed separately from the app.
Joplin Cloud lists Basic, Pro, Pro 100 GB and Teams. Teams is charged per user with a two-user minimum. Check the current plan grid for the exact allowance and billing period before subscribing.
Joplin Server Business is the self-hosted organisational option and requires the buyer to run its own infrastructure. Compare that route with hosted Cloud and the free app separately when budgeting administration and sharing needs.
Look a little closer
Before you choose
Pilot the intended sync service on two devices with a small notebook and attachments. Confirm offline editing, conflict handling and mobile downloads before importing a large collection; the current mobile attachment warning is material for document-heavy notes.
If enabling end-to-end encryption, do it on one device first, finish its sync, then add other devices. Arrange secure recovery of the master-key password before relying on encrypted sync.
For shared documentation, check which people can edit and whether Teams' read-only permission is needed. A standard shared notebook gives participants edit access according to the current help.
Run a sample import and a JEX export before migration. Inspect complex formatting and links, then set the note-history retention consistently across devices so recovery expectations match the actual shortest setting.
9 distinct sources behind this profile. Research observed Oct 18, 2026. Features and offers can change.
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