SHSelfHostIndex

Obsidian vs QOwnNotes

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?
Obsidian Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files VS QO QOwnNotes Plain-text note taking with Markdown and Nextcloud sync
FeatureObsidianQOwnNotes
Deploy effortRead-the-docs projectRead-the-docs project
Health score96 · Excellent90 · Excellent
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseProprietaryGPL-2.0
LanguageJavaScriptC++
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinarybinary, source
GitHub stars★ 21,797★ 5,886
First released20202014
ReplacesEvernote, Notion, OneNoteEvernote, OneNote

What are Obsidian and QOwnNotes?

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

Read the full Obsidian guide →

QOwnNotes

QOwnNotes is an open-source plain-text note-taking and to-do application with Markdown support. It integrates tightly with Nextcloud and ownCloud for syncing notes across devices.

  • Plain-text Markdown notes
  • Nextcloud and ownCloud sync
  • Scripting support
  • Note versioning via Nextcloud

Read the full QOwnNotes guide →

Obsidian vs QOwnNotes: key differences

Obsidian is written in JavaScript, while QOwnNotes is built with C++. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Obsidian versus GPL-2.0 for QOwnNotes. QOwnNotes is the more established project (first released 2014), while Obsidian arrived in 2020. Obsidian has the considerably larger community, at 21,797 GitHub stars versus 5,886.

Why pick each one

Choose Obsidian if…

  • Notes stay portable and local
  • Highly extensible

Watch out for

  • Core app is closed source
  • Official sync is a paid service
Obsidian details

Choose QOwnNotes if…

  • Pairs well with Nextcloud
  • Notes remain plain files

Watch out for

  • Desktop only
  • Interface feels utilitarian
QOwnNotes details

Frequently asked questions

Is Obsidian or QOwnNotes better?

Neither is universally better. Obsidian has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Obsidian and QOwnNotes free and open-source?

Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and QOwnNotes under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Obsidian and QOwnNotes with Docker?

Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. QOwnNotes: check the project docs for container support.

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