Docmost vs Foam
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?
Docmost
Open-source collaborative wiki and documentation
VS
Foam
Personal knowledge management on top of VS Code
| Feature | Docmost | Foam |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,287 | ★ 17,328 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose Foam if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 17.3k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Docmost or Foam better?
Neither is universally better. Docmost has the larger community, while Foam is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Docmost and Foam free and open-source?
Yes. Docmost is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Foam under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Docmost and Foam with Docker?
Docmost: yes. Foam: check the project docs for container support.