Plainva

Local-first · Markdown · Yours

Your notes are just files.
Plainva makes them feel like an app.

A local-first Markdown editor that opens your existing Obsidian vaults, adds Notion-style databases over plain notes, and syncs through storage you already own — and never locks you in.

Download for desktop View on GitHub

Windows · macOS · LinuxNo accountNo telemetryAGPL-3.0

Opens your Obsidian vault — and never changes it behind your back. Any upgrade — typed notes, databases — is opt-in. Your notes stay plain Markdown that opens anywhere: in Obsidian, in any text or Markdown editor, today and in ten years.

What you get

A modern app over plain files — nothing hidden, nothing owned by us.

Editor

A real Markdown editor

Live preview, a slash menu, tables with inline editing, callouts, wiki links, math & Mermaid, block drag handles, print & PDF export.

More in the handbook → .base

Databases over plain notes

Eight views with relations — table, board, calendar, gallery, timeline, pinboard and a graph. Rollups, milestones and dependencies plan a project. The data is your notes.

See databases → Import

Move over in minutes New

From Notion, Evernote, Google Keep, Simplenote and Logseq — with an honest report of what came across and what could not.

Import guide → Sync

Through your own storage

WebDAV/Nextcloud, S3-compatible, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox — one account wizard, one sign-in per account. Nothing leaves your storage.

Set up sync → Versioning

Every write, recoverable

Automatic per-file snapshots — browse, diff and restore any version, undelete files, and daily ZIP backups by default.

Backups & versions → Performance

Fast on large vaults

Full-text search as you type, incremental indexing and a measured performance budget — tens of thousands of notes stay snappy.

Search →
Calendar & tasks CalDAV, Google, Microsoft · reminders Email as a note Exp. IMAP & Graph · server-side rules Pinboard New A sticky-note board over a .base

Also built in: graph & cleanup tools · encrypted workspaces (experimental) · 12 themes · 10 languages · mobile apps (beta) · vault templates with ready-made databases Everything at a glance →

The data is your notes

Boards, tables and relations — stored as plain Markdown.

A .base file is a view over your notes' frontmatter. Drag a card and Plainva writes a single field back into a note — no database, no export, no lock-in. Open the same folder in Obsidian and your notes are just notes.

The promise

No account. No telemetry. No middleman.

Plainva runs on your machine and talks only to the storage you choose. There is no Plainva server between you and your notes — because there is no Plainva account to begin with.

  • Your files stay put. Nothing is uploaded anywhere except the cloud you connect.
  • Credentials in the OS keychain. Not in a config file, not on a server.
  • Plain Markdown, forever. If Plainva vanished tomorrow, every note still opens.

Bring your own cloud

Sync through storage you already pay for.

WebDAV and S3 work out of the box; OneDrive and Dropbox connect with a single sign-in. Google Drive works too, with a one-time app setup of your own.

WebDAV / NextcloudS3 · R2 · MinIO · B2Google DriveOneDriveDropbox
12 themes · 10 languages
no lock-in · no phone-home

Switching

Bring your notes with you.

Point Plainva at your export and it recognises where it came from. Notion arrives through its API with databases, rows and relations intact — the file export cannot carry those, and Plainva says so rather than quietly dropping them.

Every run ends with a report naming what came across and what did not. It writes into a new vault or one new subfolder, so undoing an import is deleting a folder.

  • Notion
  • Evernote
  • Google Keep
  • Simplenote
  • Logseq
  • Markdown folders

Read the import guide

Coming from: Notion · Evernote · Google Keep · Obsidian

Before you download

The questions people ask first.

What does Plainva cost?

Nothing. Plainva is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0 — there is no paid tier, no trial and no feature held back. It is funded by donations and grants, not by your data.

Do I need an account?

No. There is no Plainva account, because there is no Plainva server. The app runs on your machine and talks only to the storage you choose.

Can I keep using Obsidian?

Yes — Plainva opens the same Markdown files and never migrates or reformats your vault. Anything Plainva-specific lives under a plainva: key that Obsidian ignores.

The honest caveat: opening is always safe, editing is not always. Once a file uses a Plainva extension — a board, a relation, a managed index.md — editing that file in Obsidian can break the extra. Notes without extensions can be edited anywhere. More in the FAQ.

Can I bring my notes from Notion or Evernote?

Yes: Notion, Evernote, Google Keep, Simplenote, Logseq and any folder of Markdown. Notion through its API brings databases with rows and relations; every import ends with a report naming what could not come across. Import guide.

Where does sync run?

Through storage you already have — Nextcloud/WebDAV, S3-compatible, Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox. Nothing passes through us; there is no Plainva server in between and no sync subscription. Setting up sync.

Is there a mobile app?

The Android app is in open beta and the iOS build is in TestFlight. Both open the same vault, synced through your own cloud. Join the beta.

What happens if Plainva disappears?

Your notes keep working. They are plain Markdown in an ordinary folder — every note opens in any editor, today and in ten years. The source is on GitHub under a licence that cannot be taken back.

All questions →

Android beta · live now

Plainva on your phone — join the Android beta.

The same plain-Markdown vault as on desktop, synced through your own cloud. Joining takes two steps: join the testers group, then install from Google Play.

Join the Android beta How it works

Free · uses your own cloud · keep a backup of your vault.

iOS & full launch

On iPhone, or want the launch heads-up?

iOS testing runs separately through TestFlight, and the full mobile launch is coming. Leave your email and we'll ping you once — no newsletter.

Almost there — please check your inbox and confirm your subscription. Then we'll email you once, when mobile is ready.

One email, only about the mobile app. No newsletter, no sharing.

Keep it independent

Plainva is funded by people, not investors.

No VC, no growth traps — grants and one-time supporters keep it alive and honest. Any amount helps; none of it buys your data.

GitHub Sponsors Ko-fi Liberapay

Recurring via GitHub Sponsors or Liberapay, or a one-time thank-you on Ko-fi — no account needed. All three are fee-friendly, so nearly everything reaches the project.

Building something commercial on Plainva? It's open source under AGPL-3.0 — if that copyleft license doesn't fit your product, a commercial license is available on request. Email us about commercial licensing →

Get Plainva

Download Plainva — your vault opens in seconds.

Free and open source, currently v0.6.3. In-app updates are signed, and you can turn them off. Prefer to build it yourself? The whole thing is on GitHub.

macOS
Download (.dmg)
Universal · Apple Silicon & Intel

All versions, checksums & formats on GitHub →

Installation help

System requirements

Plainva draws its window with the system web engine, so the engine — not the processor — sets the floor: Windows 10 or newer with the WebView2 runtime, macOS 12 (Monterey) or newer with Safari kept current (Apple Silicon or Intel), Linux with WebKitGTK 2.40 or newer. On macOS the real bar is Safari 16.4, because the engine arrives with Safari rather than with the system — so if Plainva refuses to start on a Mac, installing the latest Safari is the first thing to try. On an older system Plainva says so at startup instead of opening a blank window.

Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”

Plainva's Windows installers are code-signed as of 0.6.3. A fresh certificate has no reputation yet, so SmartScreen may still show a blue warning on first launch — if it does, click More info, then Run anyway. The .msi installs Plainva like any other app; the .exe is a portable installer alternative.

Installing on macOS

The macOS build is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens normally after you drag Plainva from the .dmg into Applications. The universal build runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Linux: run the AppImage or install a package

Make the AppImage executable and run it: chmod +x Plainva*.AppImage. Prefer your package manager? Install the .deb (Debian/Ubuntu) or .rpm (Fedora/openSUSE) from the same release.

Beta · used daily on real vaults · 1,500+ tests · keep backups of irreplaceable data.