Khoj vs Trilium Notes Next
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
Trilium Notes Next
Archived
Hierarchical note-taking app for building knowledge bases
| Feature | Khoj | Trilium Notes Next |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,485 | ★ 2,926 |
| First released | 2021 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Notion AI, Evernote | Evernote, OneNote, Notion |
What are Khoj and Trilium Notes Next?
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
Trilium Notes Next
TriliumNext is the actively maintained community continuation of Trilium Notes, a hierarchical note-taking application for building large personal knowledge bases. It supports rich text, code notes, and scripting.
- Hierarchical note tree
- Rich text and code notes
- Scripting and automation
- Note encryption
Khoj vs Trilium Notes Next: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Trilium Notes Next's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Khoj is actively maintained. Khoj is written in Python, while Trilium Notes Next is built with TypeScript. Trilium Notes Next is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Khoj. Khoj is the more established project (first released 2021), while Trilium Notes Next arrived in 2024. Khoj has the considerably larger community, at 37,485 GitHub stars versus 2,926.
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 Trilium Notes Next if…
- Excellent for large knowledge bases
- Powerful and extensible
Watch out for
- Steeper learning curve
- Primarily single-user
Frequently asked questions
Is Khoj or Trilium Notes Next better?
Neither is universally better. Khoj has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Khoj and Trilium Notes Next free and open-source?
Yes. Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Trilium Notes Next under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Khoj and Trilium Notes Next with Docker?
Khoj: yes. Trilium Notes Next: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Khoj or Trilium Notes Next?
Trilium Notes Next has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Khoj. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.