BookStack vs Trilium Notes Next
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
Trilium Notes Next
Archived
Hierarchical note-taking app for building knowledge bases
| Feature | BookStack | Trilium Notes Next |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,050 | ★ 2,926 |
| First released | 2017 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Evernote, OneNote, Notion |
What are BookStack and Trilium Notes Next?
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
Trilium Notes Next
TriliumNext is the actively maintained community continuation of Trilium Notes, a hierarchical note-taking application for building large personal knowledge bases. It supports rich text, code notes, and scripting.
- Hierarchical note tree
- Rich text and code notes
- Scripting and automation
- Note encryption
BookStack vs Trilium Notes Next: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Trilium Notes Next's repository is archived and no longer developed, while BookStack is actively maintained. BookStack is written in PHP, while Trilium Notes Next is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for BookStack versus AGPL-3.0 for Trilium Notes Next. BookStack is the more established project (first released 2017), while Trilium Notes Next arrived in 2024. BookStack has the considerably larger community, at 19,050 GitHub stars versus 2,926.
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 Trilium Notes Next if…
- Excellent for large knowledge bases
- Powerful and extensible
Watch out for
- Steeper learning curve
- Primarily single-user
Frequently asked questions
Is BookStack or Trilium Notes Next better?
BookStack is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Trilium Notes Next if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are BookStack and Trilium Notes Next free and open-source?
Yes. BookStack is licensed under MIT and Trilium Notes Next under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BookStack and Trilium Notes Next with Docker?
BookStack: yes. Trilium Notes Next: yes.