BookStack vs Notea
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
BookStack
Simple self-hosted documentation and wiki platform
VS
Notea
Archived
Self-hosted note-taking app stored on S3
| Feature | BookStack | Notea |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,050 | ★ 2,147 |
| First released | 2017 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Notion, Evernote |
What are BookStack and Notea?
BookStack
BookStack is a self-hosted platform for organizing and storing documentation in a books, chapters, and pages structure. It targets teams that want an approachable wiki without complexity. It is deployed via Docker or a LAMP stack.
- Books, chapters and pages structure
- WYSIWYG and Markdown editors
- Roles, permissions and SSO
- Full-text search
Notea
Notea is an open-source, self-hosted note-taking application with a Notion-like editor that stores all data on S3-compatible object storage. It runs serverlessly and requires no traditional database.
- Notion-like editor
- Stores data on S3
- No database required
- Markdown support
BookStack vs Notea: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Notea's repository is archived and no longer developed, while BookStack is actively maintained. BookStack is written in PHP, while Notea is built with TypeScript. Notea is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for BookStack. BookStack is the more established project (first released 2017), while Notea arrived in 2021. BookStack has the considerably larger community, at 19,050 GitHub stars versus 2,147.
Why pick each one
Choose BookStack if…
- Very easy to learn
- Clean organized structure
- Good permissions
Watch out for
- Rigid structure for some
- Fewer integrations than rivals
Choose Notea if…
- Simple storage model
- Clean editing experience
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Single-user focused
Frequently asked questions
Is BookStack or Notea better?
BookStack is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Notea if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are BookStack and Notea free and open-source?
Yes. BookStack is licensed under MIT and Notea under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BookStack and Notea with Docker?
BookStack: yes. Notea: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, BookStack or Notea?
Notea has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for BookStack. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.