nb vs Notenik (2026): which should you pick?

Pick nb if

• Fits if you live in a terminal and want your notes as files under Git
• Works for people who also save bookmarks and todos in the same place

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a window to click in, as it is command line and a local web view
• Skip it if you are on Windows without WSL, MSYS or Cygwin
• Watch out: some features need Pandoc, Chromium or Chrome installed
• Too light for sharing, as there is no phone app or hosted service

Pick Notenik if

• Fits if you want notes as plain text files that any text editor can open
• Works for structured lists like quotations, bookmarks or tasks with a status, or a website built from a folder

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want the app on your iPhone, iPad or PC, as it's Mac only
• Not for you if you want sync built in, because that's left to iCloud Drive or Dropbox
• Skip it if you just want to jot things down, since the fields and templates are the point
• Watch out: one developer writes and supports it, with help only on a Discourse forum
• Tight if your Mac runs anything older than macOS 13.5, which the store listing requires

nb

• It needs a Unix-like shell; on Windows it runs through WSL, MSYS or Cygwin.
• Some features rely on optional tools such as Pandoc and Chromium or Chrome.
• There is no mobile app or hosted service on its site.

Notenik

• Mac only: the developer says Notenik runs solely on the Mac and is available exclusively through the Mac App Store.
• There is no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version. On other devices the notes are plain text files to open in another editor.
• The app has no sync service of its own. The store listing suggests keeping collections in iCloud Drive or a Dropbox folder.
• Notenik is written and supported by a single developer, with questions and requests handled on a Discourse forum.

nb

Plain-text storage

Notes are text files in Markdown, Org, LaTeX, AsciiDoc or any other format, written in the editor you choose.

Git versioning and sync

Notebooks are Git-backed, giving revision history and syncing through a Git remote.

Bookmarks with cached pages

Saved pages are stored as Markdown for local full-text search, with Wayback Machine lookup for broken links.

Encryption

Notes and bookmarks can be password-protected.

Wiki links, tags and todos

Items link with [[wiki-style]] links, take #tags, and can hold todos with tasks.

Local web browsing

A locally served web view lets you read notes and bookmarks in a terminal or GUI browser.

Notenik

Plain text notes in collections

Each note is its own plain text file and a folder of notes is a collection. Collections can be stored anywhere, including iCloud Drive or a Dropbox folder, and open in any text editor.

Custom fields per collection

Beyond a Title and a Body, a collection can add fields such as Tags, Link, Date, Status, Seq and Author, each with its own type, and notes can be sorted by any of them.

Markdown with extras

The body is formatted in Markdown with footnotes, citations, definition lists and MathJax. Double-bracket wiki links connect notes, and a table of contents can be generated.

To-do lists, outlines and bookmarks

Date, Status and Recurs fields turn a collection into a to-do list, Seq and Level fields make it an outline, and a Link field makes it a set of bookmarks.

Merge templates and scripts

Merge templates write note fields out as HTML, XML, JSON or other text. Script files select, sort and filter the notes first, which lets Notenik act as a static website generator.

Hooks for other Mac apps

A custom URL scheme, custom actions for Apple's Shortcuts app and APIs for Hookmark let other apps link to notes, add notes from text and run script files.

nb

• nb$0

  Open-source command-line tool installed from a package manager or as a script; no paid tier is listed.

Notenik

• Notenik$0

  The full app with all features enabled, downloaded from the Mac App Store. The store listing requires macOS 13.5 or later.