SHSelfHostIndex

Gollum 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?
GO Gollum A simple, Git-powered wiki with a sweet API VS OB Obsidian Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files
FeatureGollumObsidian
CategoryWikis & DocumentationNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITProprietary
LanguageRubyJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinary, docker, sourcebinary
GitHub stars★ 14,308★ 20,632
First released20102020
ReplacesConfluence, NotionEvernote, Notion, OneNote

Why pick each one

Choose Gollum if…

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

Choose Obsidian if…

  • Notes stay portable and local
  • Highly extensible
Obsidian details

Frequently asked questions

Is Gollum or Obsidian better?

Obsidian is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Gollum if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Gollum and Obsidian free and open-source?

Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Gollum and Obsidian with Docker?

Gollum: yes. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.

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