Athens Research vs Many Notes
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Many Notes
Markdown note-taking web app designed for simplicity
| Feature | Athens Research | Many Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 22 · At risk | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | EPL-1.0 | MIT |
| Language | Clojure | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,298 | ★ 1,087 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Roam Research, Obsidian | Obsidian, Notion |
What are Athens Research and Many Notes?
Athens Research
Athens is an open-source knowledge graph and networked note-taking tool inspired by Roam Research, supporting block references and bidirectional links. It can be self-hosted with a multiplayer server for shared knowledge bases.
- Block references
- Bidirectional links
- Multiplayer self-hosting
- Knowledge graph view
Many Notes
Many Notes is a self-hosted Markdown note-taking web application built with Laravel. It supports multiple vaults per user, links and backlinks, tags, templates, and OAuth login from many providers.
- Multiple vaults per user
- Links, backlinks, and tags
- Smart Markdown editor
- Wide OAuth provider support
Athens Research vs Many Notes: key differences
Athens Research is written in Clojure, while Many Notes is built with PHP. Licensing differs — EPL-1.0 for Athens Research versus MIT for Many Notes. Many Notes is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Athens Research. Athens Research is the more established project (first released 2020), while Many Notes arrived in 2024. Athens Research has the considerably larger community, at 6,298 GitHub stars versus 1,087.
Why pick each one
Choose Athens Research if…
- Released under the EPL-1.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Clojure
Choose Many Notes if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Athens Research or Many Notes better?
Neither is universally better. Athens Research has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Athens Research and Many Notes free and open-source?
Yes. Athens Research is licensed under EPL-1.0 and Many Notes under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Athens Research and Many Notes with Docker?
Athens Research: yes. Many Notes: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Athens Research or Many Notes?
Many Notes has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Athens Research. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.