Altretta vs Joplin
Both are private, both encrypt what leaves your machine, and both let you sync into storage you already own. What differs is what you can prove afterwards.
Which one should you choose?
Joplin is open source, runs on five platforms plus a terminal, encrypts end to end, and has the cheapest paid plan on any page of this comparison. Those are not small things and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. Altretta trades some of that — there is no mobile app, and the desktop application is not open source — for a different guarantee: your notes are Markdown files on your own disk, every change is written into a signed history you can verify, and an AI pointed at your vault answers with the passages it used.
Where the two agree, and where they differ.
| Capability | Altretta | Joplin |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | PartialThe engine is open source; the desktop app is not. | YesOpen sourcejoplinapp.org |
| Platforms | macOS · Windows · Linux | Windows · macOS · Linux · Android · iOSjoplinapp.orgA terminal app toojoplinapp.org |
| End-to-end encryption | YesInto storage you already own — your Dropbox, your OneDrive, a network share, a USB stick. No server of ours in the path and no key escrow. | YesEnd-to-end encryptedjoplinapp.org |
| Sync into storage you already own | YesYour Dropbox, your OneDrive, a network share, a USB stick — whatever the machine can see. | YesJoplin Cloud · Dropbox · OneDrivejoplinapp.org |
| Browser clipper | Not includedWritten but not released. It is not something you can install today. | YesChrome · Firefoxjoplinapp.org |
| Notes are Markdown files on your disk | YesOrdinary files in a folder you chose. Open them in any editor. | Not verified |
| Cheapest paid plan | Pro at €4.99/mo. | €2.40/mobilled yearlyjoplinapp.org/plans/2 GB of synced storagejoplinapp.org/plans/ |
| Plan sized like Altretta Pro | Pro: as many synced folders as you like, publishing, and the full history. | €4.79/mobilled yearlyjoplinapp.org/plans/30 GB of synced storagejoplinapp.org/plans/ |
| Teams | Team, per seat, with the encrypted shared vault and per-person revocation. | €6.69/user/mobilled yearlyjoplinapp.org/plans/2 user minimumjoplinapp.org/plans/ |
| Self-hosting | PartialNo server of ours sits in the sync path — and equally, there is nothing of ours to run. | €30 – €40/user/yrbilled yearlyjoplinapp.org/plans/ |
| Answers that cite the note they came from | YesCited passages with the file and the line numbers, from the model you connect over MCP. | Not verified |
| Signed history and time travel | YesEd25519-signed and append-only. Removal is a signed tombstone, never a delete, so you can travel back to any point. | Not verified |
| Reads your code repository | YesSymbol extraction in twenty languages, in the same signed graph as the notes. | Not verified |
Verified Every figure here about another product was read from the pages linked below, on that date, and from nowhere else. Follow them and check us — that is the whole idea.
“Not verified” means it has not been checked on Joplin’s own pages, so nothing is being claimed either way. Prices are the yearly-billing figures from their plans page.
What Altretta and Joplin share.
Both were built by people who did not want to be able to read your notes.
Encryption you hold the key to
Both encrypt before anything leaves the machine, so the place your notes are stored is not a place that can read them.
Sync into storage you chose
Neither product requires you to use its own cloud. Point it at a folder that already syncs and it works.
Markdown as the writing surface
Both write Markdown rather than a rich-text format you cannot inspect, so what you type is what is stored.
A paid plan, not an advertising model
Both are funded by people paying for software. What is being sold is the tool, not what is inside your notes.
Where Altretta goes further.
Not on privacy — Joplin has that covered. On proof, and on what an AI can do with your notes.
Your notes are files, not rows
Close Altretta and a folder of Markdown remains, editable by anything, greppable, and identical to what you typed. The vault is the filesystem rather than a store the app owns.
Answers with their receipts
Ask a question and the answer comes back with the passages behind it, each with a file and line numbers. You bring your own model over MCP — there is no built-in LLM and no second subscription.
Your AI gets the passage, not the pile
Measured on the demo vault of 43 notes over 24 pre-registered questions: 26.5% fewer input tokens than an assistant that already knows which files hold the answer, and 94.3% fewer than pasting your whole vault into the prompt.
Signed history and time travel
An append-only log signed with Ed25519, where removal is a tombstone rather than a delete. You can go back to any point and check the provenance rather than take it on trust.
Encrypted, revocable team vault
Note contents encrypted on your device, access per person, and the key rotated the moment somebody is removed — with a hash-chained audit log, so a gap in it shows.
It reads your repository too
Twenty languages have symbol extractors, so the blast radius of a change and the drift between a document and the code it describes live in the same signed graph as your notes.
When Joplin is the better fit today.
Four reasons that are not close, and this page would be worthless without them.
You need it on your phone
Joplin runs on Android and iOS, and has a terminal client as well. Altretta has no mobile build of any kind. If you capture on the move, that is the end of the comparison.
You want open source, end to end
Joplin’s application is open source. Altretta’s engine is; the desktop app is not. If reading the code that touches your notes is a requirement, Joplin meets it and Altretta does not.
You want the lowest bill
Joplin Cloud’s entry plan costs less per month than Altretta Pro, and its next plan up includes more sync storage than Altretta bundles at any price. The table above shows both figures with their source.
You want to clip from the browser today
Joplin publishes a clipper you can install in Chrome or Firefox right now. Altretta’s is written and unreleased, which is not the same thing as shipped.
What happens to your notes if you move.
There is no Joplin-specific importer. Here is the honest route and its rough edges.
Export Markdown, import the folder
Joplin exports Markdown, and Altretta imports a Markdown folder directly. That is the path. There is also an ENEX import if you have older material in that shape.
Notebooks become folders
A notebook hierarchy exports as directories, which is exactly what Altretta expects. Tags arrive as frontmatter and are read as properties.
Attachments need a look
Resources are exported alongside the notes and relinked. It usually works; check a few notes with images before you delete anything.
Before you switch.
Is Altretta a Joplin alternative?
For a desktop-only workflow, yes, and it adds a verifiable layer Joplin does not have. For a phone-first workflow, no — Altretta has no mobile app, and no feature on this page compensates for that.
Will my Joplin notes work in Altretta?
Export them as Markdown and import the folder. There is no dedicated Joplin importer, so notebooks arrive as directories and tags as frontmatter. Attachments are relinked by the export and are worth spot-checking.
Does Altretta lock me in?
No. Your vault is a folder of Markdown files for as long as you use it, so leaving is closing the app. The signed history never destructively deletes anything, and export adds Word, LaTeX, PDF and HTML.
Is my data private? Does it stay local?
Your notes live on your disk and the app works offline. Three things you switch on deliberately send content elsewhere: the AI client you connect receives the cited passages, hosted publishing uploads the pages you selected, and encrypted sync writes ciphertext into storage you picked. Everything else stays on the machine.
Keep your files. Gain proof.
Download Altretta free for macOS, Windows and Linux. Export your Joplin notes as Markdown and they arrive as themselves — with a signed history from the first change.