Foam vs Tangent Notes
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 | Tangent Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 75 · Good |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 17,415 | ★ 556 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Roam Research, Obsidian | Obsidian, Roam Research |
What are Foam and Tangent Notes?
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
Tangent Notes
Tangent is a free, local-first note-taking application that stores notes as plain Markdown files and links them together into a connected map. It focuses on capturing and connecting ideas without a cloud dependency.
- Local-first storage
- Linked note map
- Plain Markdown files
- Session history
Foam vs Tangent Notes: key differences
Both projects are written in TypeScript. Foam is the more established project (first released 2020), while Tangent Notes arrived in 2022. Foam has the considerably larger community, at 17,415 GitHub stars versus 556.
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 Tangent Notes if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Foam or Tangent Notes 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 Tangent Notes free and open-source?
Yes. Foam is licensed under MIT and Tangent Notes under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Foam and Tangent Notes with Docker?
Foam: check the project docs for container support. Tangent Notes: check the project docs for container support.