Khoj vs Obsidian
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
Obsidian
Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files
| Feature | Khoj | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Language | Python | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,485 | ★ 21,797 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Notion AI, Evernote | Evernote, Notion, OneNote |
What are Khoj and Obsidian?
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
Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful personal knowledge base that works on a local folder of plain Markdown files. While the app is proprietary, your notes remain fully local and portable, and self-hosted sync is possible via plugins.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Bidirectional links and graph view
- Large community plugin ecosystem
- Local-first and private
Khoj vs Obsidian: key differences
Khoj is written in Python, while Obsidian is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Khoj versus Proprietary for Obsidian. Obsidian is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Khoj. Khoj lists first-class Docker deployment; Obsidian 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 Obsidian if…
- Notes stay portable and local
- Highly extensible
Watch out for
- Core app is closed source
- Official sync is a paid service
Frequently asked questions
Is Khoj or Obsidian better?
Neither is universally better. Khoj has the larger community, while Obsidian is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Khoj and Obsidian free and open-source?
Yes. Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Khoj and Obsidian with Docker?
Khoj: yes. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Khoj or Obsidian?
Obsidian has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Khoj. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.