The best local-first apps in 2026 that keep your work on your own device

The best local-first apps in 2026 are Obsidian for notes, Barside for an all-in-one desktop workspace, Anytype for an encrypted workspace you can share, Logseq and Joplin for open-source notes, AFFiNE for docs and whiteboards, KeePassXC for passwords, Actual Budget for money and Zotero for research. A local-first app keeps the main copy of your data on your own device. It opens instantly, works with no connection, and keeps working if the company behind it changes course. The cloud, when there is one, is for sync and backup, not a place you must visit to see your own work.

This guide explains what local-first really means, compares nine apps across the jobs of a working day, with prices checked on September 28, 2026, and shows how to put together a setup you control.

The best local-first apps at a glance

• Best for notes you own as plain files: Obsidian.
• Best all-in-one local-first desktop app: Barside, on Windows, Linux and Mac. Notes, tasks, reading, recordings, transcripts and passwords on your computer.
• Best encrypted workspace you can share: Anytype.
• Best open-source outliner: Logseq.
• Best open-source notes with encrypted sync on every device: Joplin.
• Best for docs, databases and whiteboards: AFFiNE.
• Best password manager with no cloud: KeePassXC.
• Best budgeting app: Actual Budget.
• Best for research and citations: Zotero.

What makes an app local-first

The term comes from "Local-first software", a 2019 essay by Martin Kleppmann, Adam Wiggins, Peter van Hardenberg and Mark McGranaghan at the research lab Ink & Switch. It names seven ideals, in these words:

1. No spinners: your work at your fingertips.
2. Your work is not trapped on one device.
3. The network is optional.
4. Seamless collaboration with your colleagues.
5. The Long Now.
6. Security and privacy by default.
7. You retain ultimate ownership and control.

Few apps meet all seven, especially collaboration. In practice, we looked for these signs:

• The main copy lives on your device, not a cache of something on a server.
• Everything works offline: opening, writing, searching.
• No account is needed to use the app on one device.
• Sync is optional, and ideally encrypted so the server cannot read it.
• You can get your data out in a format you can open without the app, or at least a complete export.
• It keeps working if the company does not, because the app and data are already yours.

Local-first is not the same as "has an offline mode". Many cloud apps cache some pages for offline use, but the real copy stays on their servers. Notion's Free plan, for example, works offline only for pages you choose to download.

How we chose these local-first apps

We picked well-known, currently maintained apps for the main jobs of a working day: notes, planning, passwords, money and research. Every fact about another product comes from its own website, pricing page, documentation or code repository, checked on September 28, 2026 and listed under Sources. We compared where the main copy lives, how sync works and who can read it, what works offline, how you get your data out, whether the code is open, which systems it runs on, and what it costs.

The best local-first apps compared

Prices are as of September 2026, from each project's own website. "Yearly" is the monthly price when you pay for a year.

Where the main copy lives, and how each one syncs:

The 9 best local-first apps, reviewed

Every price in these reviews is as of September 2026, from each project's own website.

1. Obsidian: best for notes you own as plain files

Obsidian is a clear example of local-first notes. Every note is a plain Markdown file in a folder on your device, so the app opens instantly, works with no connection, and never holds your notes hostage: any text editor can open them, today or decades from now. It is free with no sign-up. Links, backlinks, a graph view, Canvas and the Bases core plugin cover most note-taking needs, and thousands of community plugins cover the rest.

Best for: anyone who wants their notes in open files, on every device they own.

• Strengths: plain Markdown files, a strong answer to "The Long Now"; free with no account; Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android; sync with Obsidian Sync or any file sync you already use.
• Limits: it is a notes app, so tasks, reading, passwords and calls live elsewhere or in plugins. Collaboration is limited compared with a shared workspace. Official sync is paid.
• Price: free. Obsidian Sync is US$4 a month billed yearly or US$5 monthly (1 GB), end-to-end encrypted by default, with version history. A commercial license is optional.

2. Barside: best all-in-one local-first desktop app

Barside is a free desktop app for Windows, Linux and Mac. It keeps nearly your whole working day on your own computer. Notes and their images, video and audio; tasks, templates, links and reminders; Reading items and their highlights; saved web pages, drawings, screen recordings and call transcripts all live in Barside's data folder: %APPDATA%\barside\data on Windows, ~/.config/barside/data on Linux and ~/Library/Application Support/barside/data in Barside for Mac. There is no account for personal use. Barside counts which features are used, by name only, and you can turn that off in Settings.

The local-first design goes past storage. Speech turns into text on your computer with Whisper, Library search matches words on your computer with no model, and screen text is read by the text recognition on your computer (Windows OCR, or Tesseract on Linux; Barside for Mac uses Apple Vision). Saved passwords are encrypted by your operating system, and they stay out of notes, logs and backups. Clipboard history is off until you turn it on, then encrypted on your computer and never backed up.

You stay in control of copies. Settings → Export backup saves the whole library to one ZIP file, Restore backup checks the file before it changes anything, and Barside makes a safety copy before every restore and update. Open local data folder shows exactly where everything is. Barside goes online for the features you choose, such as Spaces, meetings, share links, saving a web page, calendar feeds, the AI company you connect in Settings → AI or Barside Plus, and to check for updates, which you can turn off.

Best for: people at a Windows or Linux desk, or on a Mac, who want one private app instead of a dozen cloud subscriptions.

• Strengths: more kinds of work stay local than in any other app on this list: notes, tasks, reading, recordings, call transcripts and passwords; works fully offline for your own work; bring your own AI, with speech and search on your computer; Barside Plus adds cloud backup that is encrypted on your computer before upload, with a recovery key only you hold and any day of the last 90 to restore.
• Limits: no phone app. Notes live in Barside's own library file, not as Markdown files, and its export is a ZIP backup made for restoring into Barside, so leaving is harder than with Obsidian. Notes on disk and ordinary ZIP backups are not encrypted by Barside, so protect them with your computer's disk encryption. Cloud sync with Plus is readable by Barside's server, and Spaces are hosted online and not end-to-end encrypted.
• Price: free. Barside Plus is optional at US$20 a month or US$200 a year plus sales tax, for encrypted cloud backup (50 GB), cloud sync between your computers and cloud agents.

Read how Barside keeps your library on your computer, its built-in password manager, and the privacy guide.

3. Anytype: best encrypted workspace you can share

Anytype brings Notion-style structure to local-first. Your vault lives on your device, encrypted there, and only you hold the keys; you can even create an account offline. Devices sync peer to peer on a local network with no server in between, through Anytype's network, or through a network you host yourself, and you can share spaces and chat with others. Everything is an object with a type, shown in database views (table, kanban and gallery), with templates and a graph.

Best for: people who want databases and sharing without giving a company readable copies of their work.

• Strengths: offline-first; encryption with keys only you hold; peer-to-peer sync; self-hosting; apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android.
• Limits: objects, types and relations take time to learn. The code is source-available under its own license rather than open source. The free plan includes 100 MB of remote storage for sync and sharing.
• Price: free. Plus is US$4 a month billed yearly (US$5 monthly, 1 GB); Pro is US$8 billed yearly (10 GB). Self-hosting your own network needs no membership.

4. Logseq: best open-source outliner

Logseq is a privacy-first, open-source knowledge base (AGPL-3.0) that focuses, in its own words, on privacy, longevity and user control. It is an outliner where every line is a block, with a journal page for each day, PDF annotation and task management. In 2026 it split into two apps: Logseq OG reads and writes Markdown and Org-mode files on your device, and the new Logseq keeps each graph in a database that runs on your device, with optional end-to-end encrypted sync.

Best for: people who think in outlines and want open-source software with open files.

• Strengths: free and open source; Markdown and Org-mode files in Logseq OG; daily journals; plugins and themes; apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android.
• Limits: the database version (Logseq 2.0) is still in beta, and its real-time sync and new mobile app are in alpha; the first sync invitations went to Open Collective sponsors. The team warns that data loss is possible there and recommends backups, so keep your important graphs in Logseq OG or back them up often. Logseq OG now gets maintenance and security fixes rather than new features.
• Price: free. The project is supported through Open Collective.

5. Joplin: best open-source notes with encrypted sync

Joplin is a free, open-source notes app that saves notes in an open format and runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, plus a terminal app. You choose how to sync: Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive and other services, and you can turn on end-to-end encryption so no one but you can read your notes. A web clipper for Chrome and Firefox saves pages and screenshots.

Best for: privacy-minded people who want open source, encrypted sync and apps on every platform.

• Strengths: open source; open format; optional end-to-end encryption; your choice of sync service; every major platform, Linux included.
• Limits: the editor is simple, and many extras come from plugins that you add yourself. It is a notes app, not a workspace.
• Price: free. Joplin Cloud Basic is €2.99 a month or €28.69 a year (2 GB); Pro is €5.99 a month or €57.48 a year (30 GB).

6. AFFiNE: best for docs, databases and whiteboards

AFFiNE describes itself as "local-first by design". Its desktop app runs docs, databases and the Edgeless whiteboard locally, works fully offline and needs no account. The editor, the desktop app and most of the code are open source under the MIT license. The server is source-available under AFFiNE's own Enterprise Edition license, and AFFiNE offers a free self-hosted plan.

Best for: people who want a Notion-plus-whiteboard workspace that runs on their own device.

• Strengths: docs, databases and an infinite whiteboard in one app; as many local workspaces as you like for free; apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android; self-hosting.
• Limits: sharing and real-time collaboration go through AFFiNE Cloud or your own server. The free cloud plan includes 10 GB of storage and up to 3 members per workspace.
• Price: free for local use. Pro is US$6.75 a month billed yearly; Team is US$10 per seat a month billed yearly.

7. KeePassXC: best password manager with no cloud

KeePassXC keeps every password, username, URL, attachment and note in one offline, encrypted database file that you can store anywhere, including a cloud folder of your choice. In its own words: no cloud, no ads, no subscriptions. It is free and open source under GPLv3, fills logins into your apps, works with browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome and Edge, and version 2.7.9 received a security Visa (CSPN) from the French National Cybersecurity Agency, ANSSI.

Best for: people who want full control of their passwords on Windows, Mac or Linux.

• Strengths: free and open source; one encrypted file you control; passkeys and browser integration; an independent security certification.
• Limits: the project makes desktop apps only, so syncing the file to other devices and choosing phone apps are up to you. There is no hosted service for sharing with a family or team.
• Price: free.

If you only need passwords on one computer (Windows, Linux or Mac), Barside's built-in vault is another option: see the password manager guide and the 1Password alternative.

8. Actual Budget: best budgeting app

Actual Budget calls itself "unabashedly local-first software": a local app that works regardless of your network connection. It uses envelope budgeting, imports QIF, OFX, QFX, CAMT.053 and CSV files, and has importers for YNAB. Its docs list bank sync through SimpleFIN Bridge (North America), Enable Banking (Europe), Akahu (New Zealand) and Pluggy.ai (Brazil); GoCardless, the older European option, no longer accepts new accounts. Sync between devices runs on a server you host, with optional end-to-end encryption.

Best for: people who want a fast, private budget they fully own.

• Strengths: free and open source (MIT); fast and focused; reports; bank sync; desktop apps for Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Limits: syncing across devices means running a sync server yourself, or renting one from a host such as PikaPods. Help comes from the community, through the docs and Discord.
• Price: free. Hosting a sync server may cost you something, depending on where you run it.

9. Zotero: best for research and citations

Zotero is a free, open-source tool from an independent nonprofit to collect, organize, annotate, cite and share research. Your library lives in a data folder on your computer, in a database file called zotero.sqlite, and syncing your library data is free with no cap. Attached files such as PDFs sync through Zotero Storage or your own WebDAV server.

Best for: students, academics and anyone who writes with sources.

• Strengths: free and open source; runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android; free data sync; your choice of file storage.
• Limits: it is built for research, not general notes. Zotero's servers keep only the latest version of your library, so its own guide says sync is not a replacement for real backups.
• Price: free, with 300 MB of file storage. More costs US$20 a year (2 GB), US$60 a year (6 GB) or US$120 a year with no storage cap.

Local-first is not the same as private

Keeping the main copy on your device is a strong start, but privacy also depends on what happens when your data leaves it.

• Sync. Ask who can read synced data. Obsidian Sync and Anytype encrypt it so the server cannot, and Joplin does once you turn encryption on. Barside's cloud sync is protected in transit and at rest, but Barside's server can read synced notes; its cloud backup, by contrast, is encrypted on your computer before upload.
• Backups are your job. When the main copy is yours, so is the risk of losing it. Keep at least one backup on another disk or service, and test a restore once. In Barside, ordinary ZIP backups are not encrypted, so store them somewhere appropriate for what is in them.
• Disk encryption. Most local-first apps rely on your computer's own security. Turn on your system's disk encryption and lock your screen when you step away.
• AI. An AI feature sends text to an AI company. In Barside, requests go only to the company you connect, speech and search stay on your computer, and Sources lets you leave any workspace or note out of Library AI. See AI and your data.
• Collaboration. Working with other people needs a server somewhere. Read what each app says about how it stores shared data. Barside Spaces, for example, are hosted online and are not end-to-end encrypted, and when a Space's owner turns on AI moderation, new messages from members go to the owner's AI company, with a note in the Space that tells every member.

How to build a local-first setup

You rarely need one app for everything. A practical setup for a working day:

1. Notes and knowledge: Obsidian for open files on every device, or Barside if you work at a Windows, Linux or Mac desk and want notes, tasks, reading, recordings and call transcripts together. Moving in is easy: Barside's Settings → Import notes reads Notion, Obsidian, Evernote, OneNote and Google Keep exports on your computer. See import your notes.
2. Passwords: KeePassXC, or Barside's built-in vault if one computer is enough.
3. Money: Actual Budget.
4. Research: Zotero.
5. Backups: one copy on another disk or service, on a schedule. Barside Plus does this for your Barside library automatically, encrypted on your computer before upload.

How to choose a local-first app

• You want notes in open formats: Obsidian or Logseq OG, which keep plain text files, or Joplin.
• You want one app for the whole desk on Windows, Linux or Mac: Barside.
• You want Notion-style databases and sharing with your own keys: Anytype, or AFFiNE if you also want a whiteboard.
• You need encrypted sync on phones too: Obsidian with Sync, Joplin or Anytype.
• You want passwords with no cloud at all: KeePassXC.
• You want a budget that stays yours: Actual Budget.
• You write with sources: Zotero.

Compare local-first apps in more depth

• Local-first app with private backups: how Barside stores, exports and restores your library.
• Obsidian alternative and Notion alternative: Barside side by side with each.
• 1Password alternative: a password vault that stays on your computer.
• Best note-taking apps and best Notion alternatives: the wider field.