Obsidian vs Quartz
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — 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
Quartz
Publish a digital garden from Markdown notes
| Feature | Obsidian | Quartz |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Blogging Platforms |
| License | Proprietary | MIT |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,632 | ★ 12,960 |
| First released | 2020 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion, OneNote | Notion, Medium |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Obsidian or Quartz 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 Quartz free and open-source?
Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and Quartz under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Obsidian and Quartz with Docker?
Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. Quartz: check the project docs for container support.