Boost Note 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 | Boost Note | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 96 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,046 | ★ 21,797 |
| First released | 2016 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Evernote | Evernote, Notion, OneNote |
What are Boost Note and Obsidian?
Boost Note
Boost Note is an open-source note-taking app aimed at developers, with Markdown editing, code snippet notes, tagging, and syntax highlighting. Notes are stored as files. The upstream app repository is archived and no longer actively developed.
- Markdown and snippet notes
- Tag-based organization
- File-based storage
- Code syntax highlighting
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
Boost Note vs Obsidian: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Boost Note's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Obsidian is actively maintained. Boost Note is written in TypeScript, while Obsidian is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Boost Note versus Proprietary for Obsidian. Boost Note is the more established project (first released 2016), while Obsidian arrived in 2020. Obsidian has the considerably larger community, at 21,797 GitHub stars versus 4,046.
Why pick each one
Choose Boost Note if…
- Developer-friendly
- Files you control
Watch out for
- Project direction shifted
- No first-party server
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 Boost Note 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 Boost Note and Obsidian free and open-source?
Yes. Boost Note is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Boost Note and Obsidian with Docker?
Boost Note: check the project docs for container support. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.