NoteDiscovery 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.
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
VS
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
| Feature | NoteDiscovery | Trilium Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,812 | ★ 37,958 |
| First released | 2024 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Obsidian, Notion | Evernote, Notion |
What are NoteDiscovery and Trilium Notes?
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
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
NoteDiscovery vs Trilium Notes: key differences
NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript, while Trilium Notes is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for NoteDiscovery versus AGPL-3.0 for Trilium Notes. Trilium Notes is the more established project (first released 2017), while NoteDiscovery arrived in 2024. Trilium Notes has the considerably larger community, at 37,958 GitHub stars versus 2,812.
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 Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Single-user oriented
Frequently asked questions
Is NoteDiscovery or Trilium Notes better?
Trilium Notes 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 Trilium Notes free and open-source?
Yes. NoteDiscovery is licensed under MIT and Trilium Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NoteDiscovery and Trilium Notes with Docker?
NoteDiscovery: yes. Trilium Notes: yes.