Many Notes vs org-roam
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?
Many Notes
Markdown note-taking web app designed for simplicity
VS
org-roam
Plain-text personal knowledge management for Emacs
| Feature | Many Notes | org-roam |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Emacs Lisp |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,037 | ★ 6,007 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Obsidian, Notion | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose Many Notes if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Choose org-roam if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in Emacs Lisp
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Many Notes or org-roam better?
Neither is universally better. org-roam has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Many Notes and org-roam free and open-source?
Yes. Many Notes is licensed under MIT and org-roam under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Many Notes and org-roam with Docker?
Many Notes: yes. org-roam: check the project docs for container support.