Obsidian vs QuillPad
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Obsidian
Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files
VS
QuillPad
Minimal note-taking app with notebooks and tags
| Feature | Obsidian | QuillPad |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | Kotlin |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,797 | ★ 1,388 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion, OneNote | Google Keep, OneNote |
What are Obsidian and QuillPad?
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
QuillPad
Quillpad is an open-source note-taking application focused on a clean, distraction-free writing experience with rich text formatting. It organizes notes into notebooks and supports tags, search, and offline use.
- Rich text notes
- Notebooks and tags
- Offline-first design
- Lightweight footprint
Obsidian vs QuillPad: key differences
Obsidian is written in JavaScript, while QuillPad is built with Kotlin. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Obsidian versus GPL-3.0 for QuillPad. QuillPad is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Obsidian. Obsidian is the more established project (first released 2020), while QuillPad arrived in 2022. Obsidian has the considerably larger community, at 21,797 GitHub stars versus 1,388.
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
Choose QuillPad if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Kotlin
Frequently asked questions
Is Obsidian or QuillPad 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 QuillPad free and open-source?
Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and QuillPad under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Obsidian and QuillPad with Docker?
Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. QuillPad: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Obsidian or QuillPad?
QuillPad has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Obsidian. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.