Notable 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.
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
| Feature | Notable | NoteDiscovery |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 28 · At risk | 87 · Excellent |
| 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 | binary | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 23,496 | ★ 2,812 |
| First released | 2018 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion | Obsidian, Notion |
What are Notable and NoteDiscovery?
Notable
Notable is a note-taking application that stores notes as plain Markdown files on disk. It offers a clean editor, tags, and full-text search while keeping all data in portable files.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Tag-based organization
- Full-text search
- Clean editor
NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery is a self-hosted Markdown knowledge base featuring wikilinks, a graph view, a drawing editor, and LaTeX and Mermaid rendering. It is designed for building and exploring a connected personal knowledge base.
- Wikilinks and graph view
- Drawing editor
- LaTeX and Mermaid support
- Self-hosted knowledge base
Notable vs NoteDiscovery: key differences
Notable is written in TypeScript, while NoteDiscovery is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Notable versus MIT for NoteDiscovery. Notable is the more established project (first released 2018), while NoteDiscovery arrived in 2024. Notable has the considerably larger community, at 23,496 GitHub stars versus 2,812. NoteDiscovery lists first-class Docker deployment; Notable does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Notable if…
- Notes stay as portable files
- Simple and focused
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Desktop only
Choose NoteDiscovery if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Notable or NoteDiscovery better?
Notable is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider NoteDiscovery if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Notable and NoteDiscovery free and open-source?
Yes. Notable is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and NoteDiscovery under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Notable and NoteDiscovery with Docker?
Notable: check the project docs for container support. NoteDiscovery: yes.