Zettlr vs TiddlyWiki

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureZettlrTiddlyWiki
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseWikis & Documentation
LicenseGPL-3.0BSD-3-Clause
LanguageTypeScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binarybinary, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 13,354★ 8,622
First released20172004
ReplacesNotion, ObsidianNotion, OneNote

Why pick each one

Choose Zettlr if…

  • Strong academic features
  • Plain Markdown files
Zettlr details

Choose TiddlyWiki if…

  • Extremely portable
  • Works fully offline
TiddlyWiki details

Frequently asked questions

Is Zettlr or TiddlyWiki better?

Neither is universally better. Zettlr has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Zettlr and TiddlyWiki free and open-source?

Yes. Zettlr is licensed under GPL-3.0 and TiddlyWiki under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Zettlr and TiddlyWiki with Docker?

Zettlr: check the project docs for container support. TiddlyWiki: check the project docs for container support.

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