Beaver Notes vs Obsidian
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Obsidian
Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files
| Feature | Beaver Notes | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 82 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | Proprietary |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,343 | ★ 21,797 |
| First released | 2023 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Evernote, OneNote | Evernote, Notion, OneNote |
What are Beaver Notes and Obsidian?
Beaver Notes
File-over-app note tools include several options; Beaver Notes is an open-source, privacy-focused note-taking application that stores notes locally. It offers a clean editor with tags, folders, and Markdown.
- Local-first note storage
- Markdown editor
- Tags and folders
- Cross-platform apps
Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful personal knowledge base that works on a local folder of plain Markdown files. While the app is proprietary, your notes remain fully local and portable, and self-hosted sync is possible via plugins.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Bidirectional links and graph view
- Large community plugin ecosystem
- Local-first and private
Beaver Notes vs Obsidian: key differences
Both projects are written in JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Beaver Notes versus Proprietary for Obsidian. Obsidian is the more established project (first released 2020), while Beaver Notes arrived in 2023. Obsidian has the considerably larger community, at 21,797 GitHub stars versus 1,343.
Why pick each one
Choose Beaver Notes if…
- Privacy-focused and local
- Clean modern interface
Watch out for
- Younger project
- Sync requires external tools
Choose Obsidian if…
- Notes stay portable and local
- Highly extensible
Watch out for
- Core app is closed source
- Official sync is a paid service
Frequently asked questions
Is Beaver Notes or Obsidian better?
Neither is universally better. Obsidian has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Beaver Notes and Obsidian free and open-source?
Yes. Beaver Notes is licensed under MIT and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Beaver Notes and Obsidian with Docker?
Beaver Notes: check the project docs for container support. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.