mdSilo vs NoteDiscovery
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?
mdSilo
Networked note-taking and knowledge base app
VS
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
| Feature | mdSilo | NoteDiscovery |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 849 | ★ 2,735 |
| First released | 2022 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Obsidian, Roam Research | Obsidian, Notion |
Why pick each one
Choose mdSilo if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose NoteDiscovery if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is mdSilo or NoteDiscovery better?
Neither is universally better. NoteDiscovery has the larger community, while mdSilo is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are mdSilo and NoteDiscovery free and open-source?
Yes. mdSilo is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and NoteDiscovery under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run mdSilo and NoteDiscovery with Docker?
mdSilo: check the project docs for container support. NoteDiscovery: yes.