SHSelfHostIndex

Gollum vs Notesnook

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?
GO Gollum A simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API VS NO Notesnook Private, end-to-end encrypted note-taking app
FeatureGollumNotesnook
CategoryWikis & DocumentationNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageRubyTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, docker, sourcedocker, source
GitHub stars★ 14,308★ 14,380
First released20102021
ReplacesConfluence, NotionEvernote, OneNote, Notion

Why pick each one

Choose Gollum if…

  • Pages are plain files in Git
  • Easy version control
Gollum details

Choose Notesnook if…

  • Strong privacy by default
  • Polished apps on all platforms
Notesnook details

Frequently asked questions

Is Gollum or Notesnook better?

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

Are Gollum and Notesnook free and open-source?

Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Notesnook under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Gollum and Notesnook with Docker?

Gollum: yes. Notesnook: yes.

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