Show HN: I'm building an app to replace Overleaf and Notion
Hi HN,
Since 2019, I’ve been working on a writing platform designed for creating complex documents (e.g., theses). I personally use it for everything as it also allows to classify documents in categories so you can organize them efficiently. As of a few months ago, the app is also available in the browser, and you can now invite coworkers to collaborate on a document in real time.
The app is somewhat inspired by LyX. It offers an intuitive, modern editor, but users don’t need to know any LaTeX. When it’s time to export, they can choose from a range of templates (IEEE paper, thesis, etc.).
A few highlights:
- It uses a custom-built block editor that performs well with large documents. Each block is its own contenteditable element (instead of having one massive contenteditable for the whole document)
- If you prefer plain text - you can insert a Markdown block and write using Markdown instead
- Built-in citation management
- Support for cross-references and footnotes
- Mermaid diagrams, inline LaTeX equations, and display math are all supported
- "To-do" sections help you stay organized while writing
You can try it out here: https://www.monsterwriter.com/
My biggest gripe with Notion is that it doesn't work offline. Would you addres this?
try obsidian with git
I'll 2nd this; Obsidian has a new core feature being beta tested called "base" it allows for filtering on properties and other attributes of notes into a table type view, allowing display and editing of those properties in the "base" view. This is a huge step forward for a lot of users wanting to make the jump off of Notion.
Any comparison to Typst?
Looks good! Did you build your own text editor? The markup doesn't look familiar. (Would recommend grabbing one off-the-shelf that handles cross-paragraph selections and concurrent edits, will save you a world of pain)
Yes the editor is self build and it supports concurrent edits. You can try this out in the browser version and invite a coauthor.
Looks nice and clean. Good work.
not a huge fan of the name - what about something like idk Tenet or Glossom or Meridian (just off the top of my head)
Is this actually a one time purchase or are you doing the "Actually if you read the small print I actually mean until I reach version 2.0, then you have to pay again" approach?
Developers are entitled to earn more money when they continue working. On the other hand, it is unfair how consumers have frequently needed to re-purchase products that they bought with the impression it would last a long time.
At least, the developer should specify how long the product will be supported for security and bug fixes.
A great solution, if you can pull it off: You continue maintaining the base product indefinitely, but "v2" features are disabled until the user pays more. And if you buy v2 in full you get the full feature set.
I don't really care about any of that. I just hate when a product is advertised as "one time purchase" when it actually isn't. I haven't got a single problem with developers charging for a new version, just be crystal clear about it.
users who bought a license of MonsterWriter version 1 three years ago are using the latest version today without any additional payment.
That's cool. What happens when version 2 comes out. It just says 'one time purchase' on the purchase page. One time purchase forever? Or one time purchase and then more times when the time is right to pay one time again?
Why do you need to read the small print to "guess" the obvious - unless "lifetime upgrades" are advertised, they are not part of the package. Also, you don't have to pay for v2, you can continue to use v1?
Parent don't need the answer, the question is rhetoric, they want OP to change the wording in their pricing page.
Are you saying you expect to pay one time and never again and want continued support for the lifetime of the app?
Not GP, but I do want to know that I have a path to having ongoing access to my data (which could include a fair and usable export process into a format that’s at least readable [PDF, docx, tex, other]) without a permanent on-going expense.
I see this reponse a lot after I comment on a product which doesn't make it crystal clear on what they mean by "one time purchase". It's a great draw but most of the time it's disingenuously false in an environment (software) where it's almost impossible to offer that.
I have zero issue with developers charging for a version 2, updates, maintenence, etc. Just make it crystal clear.
The application looks nice but…
Why do all these Notion “replacements” seem to think Notion is just an MD editor and note taker. It seems the unique position of notion is the ability to integrate databases into documents much less within each other. That’s the feature most of these replacements are missing.
Honestly if Notion would offer a self hosted version for companies, that would be a killer feature. Until then, I’m waiting until a feature for feature open source replacement appears.
I think the project mentioned here is very cool and something I am looking for, will definitely try it out. But highly agree that calling it a Notion replacement/alternative is mislabling it. But I've seen this often on HN nowadays, any note-taking application = Notion.
Thanks for saying that. Just came here wanting to write the same.
The db feature and the reminders are the most missed features in notion alternative.
> Honestly if Notion would offer a self hosted version for companies, that would be a killer feature
Cloud hosting is the killer feature. No one wants to be in the hosting business. There are enough other things for a company to worry about.
Managing servers, deployments, zero downtime upgrades, security patches, monitoring CVEs, auth, 2FA, lost passwords, DDoS attacks, database maintenance, sharding, migration, load balancing, caching, DNS, reliability, latency, uptime, load testing, a million different dashboards, 24x7 on call... Paying $10/mo to offload all of this is a steal.
As if all self-hosted software don't also have a cloud hosting option as a way of generating income.
That is so not true. At least here in germany cloud for any reputable company is at least difficult. Even with compliances in place. Self hosted is the prefered option for every company I worked for.
Most markets are not Germany.
Self hosting is a must for many companies working with strict regulatory compliance and security requirements. This is not exclusive to Germany and something I’m dealing with daily in the US..
It is not a full notion replacement yet. But having team workspaces is around the corner as well as other knowledge management features.
The actual "word processor" or editor of notion is hot garbage, especially for software/keyboard people. Try out something like https://ckeditor.com/ and it is infinitely better.
Looks cool, though it sadly isn't the open-source notion/obsidian competitor I've been waiting for.
Also, your images and carousel element don't look right on android Firefox
https://imgur.com/a/kOfPYea
An amazing open source obsidian competitor is org-roam for emacs.
I dislike the inherent massive learning curve that comes with emacs but if you got it you got it
I'm thinking to open source parts of it, like the text editor.
Logseq is the answer
they are in the middle of doing a total rewrite
I started a PhD in 2020 and I know exactly why you created this app because I tried like half a dozen different tools that didn’t fit. I needed a workflow to
1. collect and prioritize relevant research papers
2. make notes and synthesize ideas across my reading
3. use the notes to assemble draft of original writing
4. seamlessly move my own writings into LaTeX documents along with citation details
and ended up in Obsidian where I basically had to build my own tool anyway. Which I never did, because I just wanted to focus on research without fooling around with tools.
I ended up with Emacs and org-mode. One of my friends used Vim and Pandoc to the same effect. I didn't quite have to write my own tool but each new LaTeX template foisted on me was hours of work that could have been spent doing research. My impression after seeing my peers work with Mendeley, Notion, Overleaf, etc. was they looked prettier at first glance but didn't solve my problem.
Over time I developed the opinion that LaTeX is an unnecessary tax on scientific progress. It's insanity to keep using it when HTML exists.
Just curious what field you are in? I've noticed that in latex and "latex alternative" discussions the problem of journal templates/styles often comes up. However, every journal I've submitted to (dozens of different ones (with lots of rejects!)) just require vanilla latex and the editorial office does the work of getting it into their format. Clearly this isn't the case for everyone though!
I completely disagree and think that the missing focus on LaTeX in Monsterwriter turns it into a very different class of product than Overleaf and Setzer.
Just thinking out loud as someone who's been in a similar situation...
There are a ton of tools that claim to be one stop shops, but of course, almost none have all the features you would want.
Hence it makes sense to separate the different parts (to use tools that are excellent/powerful at any one task), and use some intermediary in the middle. Of course this isn't as efficient and frictionless as possible, but it allows compatibility.
I suppose in today's "everything is a file" computing paradigm, files (or folders) with data are probably the closest? It is far from perfect, but it's possible to integrate with a bit of legwork with scripts and the like.
That way you can import from your browser/extension of choice, save it in a form (.md? .odt/docx?) of choice, and export it as you please (ppts or pdfs? webpages?).
My/our setup for papers is: Latex installation on laptop, (home, work, conferences) + private Github repo + Zotero (with notes and highlighting directly in the PDFs) + notes.md for thoughts/ideas etc.
Team members all have local Latex installs as they have CS/math backgrounds.
Works well, easy to onboard new colleagues. Probably harder if there were people with other backgrounds (MBA), however an industrial designer on the team also uses GitHub for basic pull/commit.
For my fiction writing, I also use local Latex install+GitHub.
While I haven’t had a need to use it, this sounds like what Ulysses[0] was built for. I saw a writer talking about it years ago, and how they liked it because it allowed them to organize and keep their research right alongside their document in the same app.
[0] https://ulysses.app
This sort of flow works well for me with obsidian+paperpile+latex
Any reason why paperpile instead of Zotero? It seems obsidian has great interop with Zotero.
Check out thinky.dev - it is primarily focused on 2 right now, but I think it is really good at it.
It was also built because of academia, my masters thesis
I am using Scrivener right now, since it’s superlocal and interfaces well enough with other apps.
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you can also download it from the mac app store: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/monsterwriter-thesis-papers/id...
Right, I should have mentioned that I run a Windows PC.
currently the window binary is not code signed. This is a major problem and a lot of users complain. Even thought the code signing certificates are quite expensive I'm aiming to have this done sometime soon.