Focalboard vs Obsidian
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?
Compare Focalboard with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin Plane SiYuan Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Chatwoot Wiki.js Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan SimpleX Chat BookStack Etherpad Docs by Suite Numerique OpenProject Notesnook Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz MarkText Workspace Planka Leantime Centrifugo Screego Typebot git-bug Kanboard Berty TiddlyWiki Anytype Mumble Kaneo The Lounge Papercups Taskwarrior Zammad WorkAdventure OpenEMR Maybe Tasks Taskcafe Vikunja Kimai2 Octobox Nullboard Godo Worklenz Donetick Tasks.md Restyaboard Kanban Tegon Taskell FossBilling Nextcloud Deck Kanban Lite eLabFTW Tracks Gerrit OrangeHRM GanttProject eigenfocus osem Taiga Firefly III Importer LibreBooking 4ga Boards Todoman Web Vikunja Frontend Mobile Admidio Agorakit Facilmap LibrePlan HamsterBase Tasks DumbBudget WorkAdventure Tasks ShipShipShip TaskLite OpenHabitTracker Fab-manager May croodle rgit Traq myTinyTodo Our Shopping List DumbDo DumbKan SCM Manager FlowInquiry Satdress motion.tools (Antragsgrün) Grr Task Keeper Mergeable Bileto Mobilizon Tasks Galette phpCollab minimal-git-server Rukovoditel PyInventory CiviCRM on Drupal Listaway 92five Active Collab Bénévalibre BitBucket Server Buddy Enterprise Coin Crucible Cultivons Diacamma Dokos Kanban Tool Kantree Liberaforms Paheko PMB Pollaris ProjeQtOr Smederee Solo Tuleap
Compare Obsidian with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin SiYuan Logseq Paperless-ngx Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Notable Docmost BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Notesnook Gollum Zettlr Quartz VNote MarkText Workspace Self-hosted LiveSync Leantime Blinko Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Markor Sync QOwnNotes TagSpaces Papra Mindforger Web CherryTree Archivy Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next MindForger WizNote Zim QuillPad Beavers Notes Notesnook Sync Server OutWiker Tiddloid MyTetra WikidPad
Feature Focalboard Obsidian Category Project Management & Tasks Notes & Knowledge Base License MIT Proprietary Language TypeScript JavaScript Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 512 MB 256 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal binary GitHub stars ★ 26,376 ★ 20,632 First released 2021 2020 Replaces Trello, Asana, Notion Evernote, Notion, OneNote
Why pick each one
Choose Focalboard if… Clean Trello-like UI Lightweight Mattermost integration Focalboard details Choose Obsidian if… Notes stay portable and local Highly extensible Obsidian details
Frequently asked questions Is Focalboard or Obsidian 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 Obsidian free and open-source? Yes. Focalboard is licensed under MIT and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Focalboard and Obsidian with Docker? Focalboard: yes. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.