notely

The notebook
that thinks
like you do.

A beautiful, open-source alternative to GoodNotes. Handwrite, sketch, annotate PDFs, and organize ideas — without locking your notes inside someone else's cloud.

App screenshot
Sketch preview

Everything you loved.
None of the lock-in.

Built by people who actually take notes. Free forever, open source, and yours to host.

Buttery handwriting

120Hz inking with pressure & tilt. Feels like ink, not lag.

PDF annotation

Drop in any PDF. Highlight, scribble, sign, share.

Infinite canvas

Mind-map, sketch, plan. Zoom out forever.

Search your handwriting

Local on-device OCR. Find any word you ever wrote.

Export anywhere

Markdown, PDF, PNG, SVG. Your notes aren't hostages.

Soon

Self-hostable sync

Coming soon. Your notes, your server. No telemetry.

Coming Soon

Run your own Notely server.

One Docker command. End-to-end encrypted sync across all your devices. No subscriptions, no surveillance.

$ docker run ghcr.io/notely/server
Server dashboard
Contributors collage

Built in the open.
Made for you.

Every line of code is on GitHub. Read it, fork it, fix it. We believe your notebook shouldn't be a black box.

12.4k
Stars
230+
Contributors
MIT
License

Start writing.
It's free.

Available on iPad, macOS, Windows, and Linux.