this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023

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anytype — decentralized, p2p, e2ee 'Notion' like app (anytype.io)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

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[–] forgotaboutlaye 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I've been evaluating this for the last few weeks, and have decided to migrate all my notes over.

The free 1gb of cloud storage is incredibly generous, and since I don't use much media in my notes, it's really all I need.

Interested to see how they price it in the long run.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Wait, wasn't the idea about this project being p2p? Where does the cloud come in?

Haven't tried it yet, but it looks rather interesting.

[+] AccidentalLemming 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

In that case, why do the notes only sync when the devices are on the same local network?

I'll install the app later to see what actually is going on, as this makes little sense to me.

EDIT: from their website:

No server, no gatekeeper: peer-to-peer sync on local networks

But from their FAQ:

Anyone can get started with Anytype, free of charge. If you self-host your data, Anytype is and will always be free to use. For those who use our backup services, you can use Anytype up to 1GB of storage for free. If you need more, please contact us.

So in other words: it's not actually (only) p2p, you can use your own devices with p2p, but they also offer a centralized cloud (which they host) for those who do not want the hassle.

Sounds slightly misleading, but all is fine if they properly warn the user in the app.

EDIT: Also, it would be incredibly scammy if they took money for hosting other peoples notes on your devices, so I'm glad that that is not the case. :D

[–] Obra 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Details: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36802263

It's not an account you create in a classical way using a server. It's locally generated data wallet ( we need it for encryption and sync). We talk via on-boarding that your wallet will be synced, and that your data is encrypted only with the key generated on your machine. It's for people who don't want to mess with self-hosting. If you want you can make your build from GitHub, disconnect sync, or just self-host yours. This way our promise works.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Thank you. I've been looking at their self hosting documentation, which appears to still be a centralized solution, just under your ownership.

The way they handle accounts is rather nice, nothing new, you see it in Joplin and the likes, but it is definitely better than having an unencrypted account on a company-owned server.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

It's worth trying. I am already loving it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Interested to see how they price it in the long run.

I'm interested to see the pricing before I jump on. It ticks every box with it being local/offline first and open source.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I’ve been reading their FAQ and this sounds very reasonable:

If you want to use their cloud for backup, it will have a cost (they have not come with one yet because they have not come that far yet. It’ll depend on their hosting cost and such).
But if you want to just sync between your own devices without their server, you can, and it’ll be totally free (they insist that “your data is always yours and only yours”)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

That's good to know. I'll keep an eye on it. I'm very content with Obsidian atm. For anytype the p2p device sync is definitely the alluring factor for me.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Interesting. I have a few questions for those who have already tried:

Does it work offline?
Does it has databases like Notion?
Does it has a browser extension to capture content from the web?

I know I can look for it myself on the web, and I’ll do right now, but I think that having here the answers will help others with the same questions.

[–] LPThinker 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Have been using it since early Alpha days, and I like it a lot but it definitely is still lacking some of the polish of more established tools like Notion.

Does it work offline? Yes, it does. Your changes are saved locally and synced at the next opportunity. Obviously this can occasionally cause conflicts but in practice I've never had issues.
Does it have databases like Notion? Not exactly. I was never a Notion power user so I can't say how well they compare, but Anytype lets you define your own custom objects with custom relations (sort of like database columns) and link any objects together, as well as creating Sets of objects of the same type and Collections of objects of any kind. So I think in principle it can replicate all the features of Notion databases but in practice you'd want to change how you think about it to fit Anytype's model more easily.
Nothing like that yet, although they just open-sourced all their code and the devs are very active on the official forums receiving feature requests.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Thank you! I downloaded and tried it and I like it a lot! Runs really smooth and the features like end to end encryption, decentralized and local sync between devices and being open software are enough reasons to jump onboard!

I’m not a power user and I want to use it personally for myself (not a business) and after seeing what it can do and how smooth it is, I’m in!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Do anyone knows if it support local-only without joining the p2p network?

[–] CodeGameEat 3 points 11 months ago

Not sure if you can do device local only, but it looks like you can self-host a sync server and not use the IPFS network: https://tech.anytype.io/how-to/self-hosting. Requires a bit of setup but if you have a home server this looks like an interesting idea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm also wondering about that. I'm not willing to use an app that demands some kind of cloud.

[–] Obra 2 points 11 months ago

Well... note that it's end-to-end encrypted and works offline, though.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How close is this to feature parity with Notion in terms of the notes themselves?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I’m trying it and i would say it’s quite close. As far as I know, it lacks the last recent updates like action buttons and AI spam (that’s a positive one for me). But it has databases like Notion, my biggest requirement for a second brain, so I’m in.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Any recommendations on Google Keep alternative? Best if it was exactly the same, just not made by Google.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I respect the choice of early 90s apple esthetics.

[–] Beanerrr 1 points 11 months ago

I feel like hosting your own Obsidian vault is still the way to go.

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