Gollum vs Trilium Notes

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?
FeatureGollumTrilium Notes
CategoryWikis & DocumentationNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageRubyTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinary, docker, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 14,308★ 37,298
First released20102017
ReplacesConfluence, NotionEvernote, Notion

Why pick each one

Choose Gollum if…

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

Choose Trilium Notes if…

  • Powerful for big knowledge bases
  • Flexible structure
  • Scriptable
Trilium Notes details

Frequently asked questions

Is Gollum or Trilium Notes better?

Trilium Notes 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 Trilium Notes free and open-source?

Yes. Gollum is licensed under MIT and Trilium Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Gollum and Trilium Notes with Docker?

Gollum: yes. Trilium Notes: yes.

Related comparisons