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.
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
| Feature | Notea | Trilium Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 99 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| 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 | ★ 2,147 | ★ 37,958 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Notion, Evernote | Evernote, Notion |
What are Notea and Trilium Notes?
Notea
Notea is an open-source, self-hosted note-taking application with a Notion-like editor that stores all data on S3-compatible object storage. It runs serverlessly and requires no traditional database.
- Notion-like editor
- Stores data on S3
- No database required
- Markdown support
Trilium Notes
Trilium Notes is a hierarchical note-taking application designed for building large personal knowledge bases with rich linking and scripting. It targets power users who want a structured second brain. It is deployed via Docker as a server with desktop and web clients.
- Deep hierarchical note tree
- Note attributes and relations
- Scripting and automation
- Encrypted protected notes
Notea vs Trilium Notes: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Notea's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Trilium Notes is actively maintained. Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Notea versus AGPL-3.0 for Trilium Notes. Trilium Notes is the more established project (first released 2017), while Notea arrived in 2021. Trilium Notes has the considerably larger community, at 37,958 GitHub stars versus 2,147.
Why pick each one
Choose Notea if…
- Simple storage model
- Clean editing experience
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Single-user focused
Choose Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Single-user oriented
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.