Notea vs Trilium Notes
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?
Notea
Self-hosted note-taking app stored on S3
VS
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
| Feature | Notea | Trilium Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,146 | ★ 37,298 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Notion, Evernote | Evernote, Notion |
Why pick each one
Choose Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Frequently asked questions
Is Notea or Trilium Notes better?
Trilium Notes is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Notea if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Notea and Trilium Notes free and open-source?
Yes. Notea is licensed under MIT and Trilium Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Notea and Trilium Notes with Docker?
Notea: yes. Trilium Notes: yes.