I use Joplin and sync all my notes to Dropbox. It cannot be called a Notion alternative exactly, because Notion's flexibility to manage different things using "blocks" is unmatched for. However after using Notion, I felt that most of my time/energy goes into understanding how to create the template and no it's not a one time thing. Every time I add a to-do/task or an issue or use it as a bookmark manager, I am often presented with the question "Could it be done any better?". It's very important to get the tool out of your way if you follow any process like GTD.
My current workflow involves Taskwarrior + Joplin. I use TW for very very specific tasks and `task next` helps me plan my day. I use Joplin as my "Notebook" and have all my notes synced there. The default theme is a bit ugly, agreed, so I use "Artim Dark" with it. The biggest reason to choose Joplin was that it's actively maintained, the apps are not great but decent I'd say, it lets me use the APIs and CLI tools to backup my Joplin DB and upload to remote storage periodically (in addition to the built in Dropbox sync), in case the sync doesn't work some day. I also use Joplin Web Clipper Firefox extension to save bookmarks/screenshots from website to a notebook "Bookmarks". It can even store the whole webpage in your Notebook, which is beautifully rendered. It even has support for E2EE for notes, but I am yet to explore that. The search is based on SQLite FTS4 and it works awesomely well. There is a support for wildcard queries, and it basically searches across all your notebooks and is quite fast that too.
Also, I love writing in Markdown, and unlike Notion, this is really quick to launch, open a notebook and start writing ASAP without dealing with the cognitive overhead that Notion presents with it's quirky "Template/Empty Page" options. Did I mention that I can write notes in any editor (I use VS Code) and Joplin will simply `watch` for changes on that file and save it in your notebook? :D
So basically I am in full control of my data, something any Notion user can never claim. I also love the fact that the code is OSS, the APIs are open and it allows me to build tools on top of Joplin to use it the way I like. And I don't have to worry for the day, the VC funding of Notion dries up and I am left with no option but to move to some other SASS product.
Another vote for Joplin here. All my notes are synced to Fastmail's WebDAV endpoint, I own all my data and can export it as plain markdown at any time.
The only feature it's lacking for me currently is a Drafts-like quick capture action on the iOS version.
Notion looks like one more super-hyped web-app, who will get insane amounts of VC money and start adding features no one needs or wants just to spend it all. Then it'll be a bloated mess that's not quick or easy to use.
What I would support is a note-taking solution, that is run like Basecamp. No VC money, no immense hype, just people dogfooding their own product and keeping it lean, functional and profitable.
My current workflow involves Taskwarrior + Joplin. I use TW for very very specific tasks and `task next` helps me plan my day. I use Joplin as my "Notebook" and have all my notes synced there. The default theme is a bit ugly, agreed, so I use "Artim Dark" with it. The biggest reason to choose Joplin was that it's actively maintained, the apps are not great but decent I'd say, it lets me use the APIs and CLI tools to backup my Joplin DB and upload to remote storage periodically (in addition to the built in Dropbox sync), in case the sync doesn't work some day. I also use Joplin Web Clipper Firefox extension to save bookmarks/screenshots from website to a notebook "Bookmarks". It can even store the whole webpage in your Notebook, which is beautifully rendered. It even has support for E2EE for notes, but I am yet to explore that. The search is based on SQLite FTS4 and it works awesomely well. There is a support for wildcard queries, and it basically searches across all your notebooks and is quite fast that too. Also, I love writing in Markdown, and unlike Notion, this is really quick to launch, open a notebook and start writing ASAP without dealing with the cognitive overhead that Notion presents with it's quirky "Template/Empty Page" options. Did I mention that I can write notes in any editor (I use VS Code) and Joplin will simply `watch` for changes on that file and save it in your notebook? :D
So basically I am in full control of my data, something any Notion user can never claim. I also love the fact that the code is OSS, the APIs are open and it allows me to build tools on top of Joplin to use it the way I like. And I don't have to worry for the day, the VC funding of Notion dries up and I am left with no option but to move to some other SASS product.