Foam vs NoteDiscovery
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
| Feature | Foam | NoteDiscovery |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,415 | ★ 2,812 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Roam Research, Obsidian | Obsidian, Notion |
What are Foam and NoteDiscovery?
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
NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery is a self-hosted Markdown knowledge base featuring wikilinks, a graph view, a drawing editor, and LaTeX and Mermaid rendering. It is designed for building and exploring a connected personal knowledge base.
- Wikilinks and graph view
- Drawing editor
- LaTeX and Mermaid support
- Self-hosted knowledge base
Foam vs NoteDiscovery: key differences
Foam is written in TypeScript, while NoteDiscovery is built with JavaScript. Foam is the more established project (first released 2020), while NoteDiscovery arrived in 2024. Foam has the considerably larger community, at 17,415 GitHub stars versus 2,812. NoteDiscovery lists first-class Docker deployment; Foam does not.
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 NoteDiscovery if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Foam or NoteDiscovery better?
Foam is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider NoteDiscovery if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Foam and NoteDiscovery free and open-source?
Yes. Foam is licensed under MIT and NoteDiscovery under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Foam and NoteDiscovery with Docker?
Foam: check the project docs for container support. NoteDiscovery: yes.