Focalboard vs Notable

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureFocalboardNotable
CategoryProject Management & TasksNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbinary
GitHub stars★ 26,376★ 23,496
First released20212018
ReplacesTrello, Asana, NotionEvernote, Notion

Why pick each one

Choose Focalboard if…

  • Clean Trello-like UI
  • Lightweight
  • Mattermost integration
Focalboard details

Choose Notable if…

  • Notes stay as portable files
  • Simple and focused
Notable details

Frequently asked questions

Is Focalboard or Notable better?

Neither is universally better. Focalboard has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Focalboard and Notable free and open-source?

Yes. Focalboard is licensed under MIT and Notable under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Focalboard and Notable with Docker?

Focalboard: yes. Notable: check the project docs for container support.

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