NoteDiscovery vs Obsidian
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
VS
Obsidian
Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files
| Feature | NoteDiscovery | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | Proprietary |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,812 | ★ 21,797 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Obsidian, Notion | Evernote, Notion, OneNote |
What are NoteDiscovery and Obsidian?
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
Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful personal knowledge base that works on a local folder of plain Markdown files. While the app is proprietary, your notes remain fully local and portable, and self-hosted sync is possible via plugins.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Bidirectional links and graph view
- Large community plugin ecosystem
- Local-first and private
NoteDiscovery vs Obsidian: key differences
Both projects are written in JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for NoteDiscovery versus Proprietary for Obsidian. Obsidian is the more established project (first released 2020), while NoteDiscovery arrived in 2024. Obsidian has the considerably larger community, at 21,797 GitHub stars versus 2,812. NoteDiscovery lists first-class Docker deployment; Obsidian does not.
Why pick each one
Choose NoteDiscovery if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Obsidian if…
- Notes stay portable and local
- Highly extensible
Watch out for
- Core app is closed source
- Official sync is a paid service
Frequently asked questions
Is NoteDiscovery or Obsidian better?
Obsidian 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 NoteDiscovery and Obsidian free and open-source?
Yes. NoteDiscovery is licensed under MIT and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NoteDiscovery and Obsidian with Docker?
NoteDiscovery: yes. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.