Docmost 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.
Docmost
Open-source collaborative wiki and documentation
VS
Notea
Archived
Self-hosted note-taking app stored on S3
| Feature | Docmost | 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 | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,773 | ★ 2,147 |
| First released | 2024 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Notion, Evernote |
What are Docmost and Notea?
Docmost
Docmost is an open-source collaborative documentation and wiki software for teams to create and organize knowledge. It targets organizations seeking a self-hosted Confluence alternative. It is deployed via Docker with PostgreSQL.
- Real-time collaborative editing
- Spaces and nested pages
- Permissions and SSO
- Diagrams and embeds
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
Docmost vs Notea: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Notea's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Docmost is actively maintained. Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Docmost versus MIT for Notea. Notea is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Docmost. Notea is the more established project (first released 2021), while Docmost arrived in 2024. Docmost has the considerably larger community, at 21,773 GitHub stars versus 2,147.
Why pick each one
Choose Docmost if…
- Clean modern interface
- Good team collaboration
- Active development
Watch out for
- Young project
- Requires Postgres
Choose Notea if…
- Simple storage model
- Clean editing experience
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Single-user focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Docmost or Notea better?
Neither is universally better. Docmost has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Docmost and Notea free and open-source?
Yes. Docmost is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Notea under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Docmost and Notea with Docker?
Docmost: yes. Notea: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Docmost or Notea?
Notea has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Docmost. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.