Khoj vs Laverna
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Khoj
Self-hostable AI assistant over your personal notes
VS
Laverna
Markdown note-taking app with client-side encryption
| Feature | Khoj | Laverna |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 24 · At risk |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,485 | ★ 9,171 |
| First released | 2021 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Notion AI, Evernote | Evernote, Simplenote |
What are Khoj and Laverna?
Khoj
Khoj is an open-source, self-hostable AI application that lets you search and chat with your notes, documents, and knowledge base. It connects to Markdown, Org-mode, PDF, and other personal data sources.
- AI chat over personal notes
- Semantic search across documents
- Connects many data sources
- Self-hostable
Laverna
Laverna is an open-source, web-based note-taking application with Markdown support and client-side encryption. It can store notes locally or sync via Dropbox or remoteStorage and can be self-hosted as a static app.
- Client-side encryption
- Markdown editor
- Offline support
- Static self-hosted app
Khoj vs Laverna: key differences
Khoj is written in Python, while Laverna is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Khoj versus MPL-2.0 for Laverna. Laverna is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Khoj. Laverna is the more established project (first released 2014), while Khoj arrived in 2021. Khoj has the considerably larger community, at 37,485 GitHub stars versus 9,171. Khoj lists first-class Docker deployment; Laverna does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Khoj if…
- Turns notes into an AI knowledge base
- Supports local LLMs
Watch out for
- Higher resource needs
- Setup more involved
Choose Laverna if…
- Strong privacy focus
- No backend required
Watch out for
- Development has stalled
- Aging codebase
Frequently asked questions
Is Khoj or Laverna better?
Neither is universally better. Khoj has the larger community, while Laverna is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Khoj and Laverna free and open-source?
Yes. Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Laverna under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Khoj and Laverna with Docker?
Khoj: yes. Laverna: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Khoj or Laverna?
Laverna has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Khoj. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.