Foam vs mdSilo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Foam | mdSilo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 63 · Good |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,415 | ★ 851 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Roam Research, Obsidian | Obsidian, Roam Research |
What are Foam and mdSilo?
Foam
Foam is a personal knowledge management and sharing system built as a set of extensions and conventions for Visual Studio Code. It turns a folder of Markdown files into a linked, navigable knowledge base.
- Wiki-style links
- Graph visualization
- Plain Markdown files
- VS Code integration
mdSilo
mdSilo is an open-source note-taking and personal knowledge management application that supports backlinks, a graph view, and Markdown editing. It can run on the desktop or be self-hosted as a web app for personal use.
- Bidirectional backlinks
- Graph visualization
- Markdown editor
- Built-in RSS reader
Foam vs mdSilo: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Foam versus AGPL-3.0 for mdSilo. Foam is the more established project (first released 2020), while mdSilo arrived in 2022. Foam has the considerably larger community, at 17,415 GitHub stars versus 851.
Why pick each one
Choose Foam if…
- Plain Markdown files
- Graph visualization included
- Git-friendly by design
Watch out for
- Requires VS Code
- Less polished than Obsidian
Choose mdSilo if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Foam or mdSilo better?
Neither is universally better. Foam has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Foam and mdSilo free and open-source?
Yes. Foam is licensed under MIT and mdSilo under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Foam and mdSilo with Docker?
Foam: check the project docs for container support. mdSilo: check the project docs for container support.