Athens Research vs org-roam
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Athens Research
Open-source networked note-taking and knowledge graph
VS
org-roam
Plain-text personal knowledge management for Emacs
| Feature | Athens Research | org-roam |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | EPL-1.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Clojure | Emacs Lisp |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,299 | ★ 6,007 |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Roam Research, Obsidian | Roam Research, Obsidian |
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 org-roam if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in Emacs Lisp
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Athens Research or org-roam 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 org-roam free and open-source?
Yes. Athens Research is licensed under EPL-1.0 and org-roam under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Athens Research and org-roam with Docker?
Athens Research: yes. org-roam: check the project docs for container support.