What Is Journaling / Diary Software?
Mix (11 tools)
- License: 11 open source · 0 proprietary
- Hosting: 11 self-hosted · 0 SaaS · 0 both
Journaling (or diary) applications are tools for keeping a dated, personal record – daily entries, reflections, logs, and moods. Unlike general note-taking and personal knowledge management (PKM) tools, which optimise for linking and retrieving a web of notes, diary apps optimise for the simple ritual of one entry per day and for privacy of that record.
The tools in this category are overwhelmingly local-first and single-user. The value is a private record the owner controls, so most avoid accounts and cloud services entirely; several encrypt the journal at rest, and the strictest never touch the network at all.
Common characteristics across diary software:
- Dated entries – the primary unit is a day (sometimes multiple entries per day), navigated from a calendar
- Local-first storage – data lives on the device, often as plain text, Markdown, XML, or a local database
- Privacy / encryption – many offer at-rest encryption (AES, GPG) and operate off-line
- Low friction capture – fast entry via a GUI, a terminal command, or a built-in editor
- Tags and search – lightweight organisation and full-text retrieval rather than a knowledge graph
- Open, portable formats – plain text, Markdown, JSON, iCalendar VJOURNAL, or XML keep the record readable without the app
About this data & disclaimer
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. This catalogue serves as a reference for the resources, applications, devices, deployment payloads, and other components that the ResorsIT platform integrates, deploys, and manages. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. This information is compiled on a best-effort basis: it may be incomplete, contain errors, and become out of date as tools, vendors, licences, and features change. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and independently verify and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it.
Comparison
Overview Comparison
| Tool | Interface | Platforms | License | Tech |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RedNotebook | Desktop GUI | Linux/Win/macOS | GPL-2.0-or-later | Python/GTK |
| Lifeograph | Desktop GUI | Linux/Win/Android | GPL-3.0-only | C++/GTK |
| Mini Diarium | Desktop GUI | Linux/Win/macOS | MIT | Tauri (Rust/SolidJS) |
| ThotKeeper | Desktop GUI | Linux/Win/macOS | BSD-2-Clause | Python/wxPython |
| Almanah Diary | Desktop GUI | Linux (GNOME) | GPL-3.0-or-later | C/GTK |
| Simple Diary | Desktop/mobile GUI | Linux (+phone) | GPL-3.0-or-later | Rust/GTK4 |
| jrnl | CLI | Linux/macOS/Win | GPL-3.0-only | Python |
| Caps-Log | Terminal TUI | Linux/macOS | MIT | C++17 (FTXUI) |
| TUI-Journal | Terminal TUI | Linux/macOS/Win/BSD | MIT | Rust (ratatui) |
| moodiary | Mobile + desktop | Android/iOS/desktop | AGPL-3.0-only | Flutter + Rust |
| Daily You | Mobile (+ desktop) | Android (+ desktop) | GPL-3.0-or-later | Flutter |
All eleven tools are open source and run locally / self-hosted; none ship a vendor-hosted SaaS edition.
Storage & Privacy Comparison
| Tool | Storage format | At-rest encryption | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| RedNotebook | Plain-text files | No | Off-line |
| Lifeograph | Single encrypted file | Yes (passphrase) | Off-line |
| Mini Diarium | Encrypted SQLite | Yes (AES-256-GCM) | None by design |
| ThotKeeper | Single XML file | No | Off-line |
| Almanah Diary | SQLite | Optional (GPG) | Off-line |
| Simple Diary | Markdown files | No | Off-line |
| jrnl | Plain-text files | Optional (AES) | Off-line |
| Caps-Log | Markdown files | Optional (AES) | Git sync |
| TUI-Journal | JSON / SQLite / VJOURNAL | No | Off-line |
| moodiary | Local database | No | Optional WebDAV |
| Daily You | Local (user-chosen) | No | Off-line |
Feature Comparison
| Tool | Calendar | Tags | Mood | Media | Export/Interop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RedNotebook | Yes | Yes | No | Images | HTML/LaTeX/PDF/txt |
| Lifeograph | Dated tree | Yes | No | No | – |
| Mini Diarium | Yes | Yes | No | No | JSON/Markdown |
| ThotKeeper | Dated tree | Yes | No | No | XML (open) |
| Almanah Diary | Yes | No | No | No | – |
| Simple Diary | Date list | No | No | Images | Markdown (native) |
| jrnl | No | Yes | No | No | JSON/Markdown |
| Caps-Log | Yes | Yes | No | No | Markdown (native) |
| TUI-Journal | No | Yes | No | No | JSON/SQLite/VJOURNAL |
| moodiary | Yes | – | Yes | Img/audio/video | WebDAV sync |
| Daily You | Yes | – | Yes | Images | JSON import |
SSO / OIDC Comparison
Diary tools in this category are personal, single-user applications with no server component, so none integrate with an external identity provider. Sync, where present, uses the sync backend’s own credentials (a Git remote for Caps-Log, a WebDAV server for moodiary) rather than OIDC or SAML.
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | LDAP | SCIM | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All tools | No | No | No | No | Single-user local apps; no auth server |
Choosing a Tool
- Terminal, line-oriented capture – jrnl
- Terminal, Markdown + calendar – Caps-Log
- Terminal, in-app editor + flexible store – TUI-Journal
- Desktop, plain-text + templates – RedNotebook
- Desktop, strict no-network privacy – Mini Diarium
- Desktop, encrypted single file – Lifeograph
- Desktop, open XML / multi-author – ThotKeeper
- Desktop, GNOME-integrated – Almanah Diary
- Desktop/phone, minimalist Markdown – Simple Diary
- Mobile/desktop, multimedia + mood – moodiary
- Mobile, privacy + mood tracking – Daily You
Tools
11 tools.
Almanah Diary
Almanah Diary is a small GNOME GTK desktop application for keeping a daily diary, with optional whole-diary encryption and calendar event integration.
License: GPL-3.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
Caps-Log
Caps-Log is a terminal-based journaling tool that stores daily entries as Markdown files and presents a calendar overview with tags, sections, and git sync.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Local host account · Key-based access
Daily You
Daily You is a privacy-focused, offline-first journaling app with mood tracking that keeps entries local, with no accounts, ads, or data collection.
License: GPL-3.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: mobile · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Local host account
jrnl
jrnl is a command-line journaling tool that stores entries as human-readable plain text, with natural-language dates, tagging, search, and optional encryption.
License: GPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Local host account · Key-based access
Lifeograph
Lifeograph is an off-line, private, encrypted diary and note-taking application with free-form dated entries, tags, and internal linking.
License: GPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
Mini Diarium
Mini Diarium is a local-only, encrypted cross-platform desktop journaling app that never connects to the internet, with multiple journals, tags, and imports.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
moodiary
moodiary is a fully open-source cross-platform diary app supporting rich multimedia entries, mood tracking, and WebDAV sync across mobile and desktop.
License: AGPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: hybrid · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Vaulted credential · Local host account
RedNotebook
RedNotebook is an open-source cross-platform desktop journal with a calendar, templates, tagging, full-text search, and export to multiple formats.
License: GPL-2.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
Simple Diary
Simple Diary is a lightweight GTK diary app that stores entries as standard Markdown and adapts responsively from Linux desktop to Linux phone.
License: GPL-3.0-or-later (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
ThotKeeper
ThotKeeper is a cross-platform hierarchical personal daily journal manager that stores entries in a single XML file with a navigable GUI.
License: BSD-2-Clause (OSS) · Kind: desktop · Deploy: direct · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Vaulted credential · Local host account
TUI-Journal
TUI-Journal is a terminal-based journaling and note-taking application for writing and managing dated entries entirely from the command line.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: direct, package · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Deployment Payload
Access & Identity: Local host account · Key-based access
