Obsidian vs Reor
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
Reor
Archived
AI-powered local-first personal knowledge management app
| Feature | Obsidian | Reor |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,797 | ★ 8,551 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion, OneNote | Evernote, Notion |
What are Obsidian and Reor?
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
Reor
Reor is an open-source, private, local-first AI note-taking application. It automatically links related notes, runs AI models locally, and stores everything as plain Markdown files on your machine.
- Local AI models
- Automatic note linking
- Plain Markdown storage
- Semantic search
Obsidian vs Reor: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Reor's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Obsidian is actively maintained. Both projects are written in JavaScript. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Obsidian versus AGPL-3.0 for Reor. Obsidian is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Reor. Obsidian is the more established project (first released 2020), while Reor arrived in 2024. Obsidian has the considerably larger community, at 21,797 GitHub stars versus 8,551.
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 Reor if…
- AI features without sending data away
- Notes stay as portable files
Watch out for
- AI features need more RAM
- Younger project
Frequently asked questions
Is Obsidian or Reor 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 Reor free and open-source?
Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and Reor under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Obsidian and Reor with Docker?
Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. Reor: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Obsidian or Reor?
Obsidian has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Reor. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.