Logseq 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.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Logseq with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin Plane SiYuan Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Linkwarden BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Omnivore OpenProject Notesnook Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz VNote Wallabag MarkText Workspace Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Buku Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next zk NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Atomic Server Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes WiseMapping MyTetra Mindwendel LibreKB Digimindmap memEx QST
Compare Obsidian with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin SiYuan Paperless-ngx Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Focalboard Notable Docmost BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Notesnook Gollum Zettlr Quartz VNote MarkText Workspace Self-hosted LiveSync Leantime Blinko Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Markor Sync QOwnNotes TagSpaces Papra Mindforger Web CherryTree Archivy Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next MindForger WizNote Zim QuillPad Beavers Notes Notesnook Sync Server OutWiker Tiddloid MyTetra WikidPad
Feature Logseq Obsidian Category Notes & Knowledge Base Notes & Knowledge Base License AGPL-3.0 Proprietary Language Clojure JavaScript Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 256 MB 256 MB Deployment binary, bare-metal binary GitHub stars ★ 44,329 ★ 20,632 First released 2020 2020 Replaces Notion, Roam Research Evernote, Notion, OneNote
Why pick each one
Choose Logseq if… Local-first and private Great for linked thinking Files stay portable Logseq details Choose Obsidian if… Notes stay portable and local Highly extensible Obsidian details
Frequently asked questions Is Logseq or Obsidian better? Neither is universally better. Logseq has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Logseq and Obsidian free and open-source? Yes. Logseq is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Logseq and Obsidian with Docker? Logseq: check the project docs for container support. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.