Obsidian vs TiddlyWiki
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
TiddlyWiki
A non-linear personal web notebook in a single file
| Feature | Obsidian | TiddlyWiki |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | Proprietary | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 20,632 | ★ 8,622 |
| First released | 2020 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion, OneNote | Notion, OneNote |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Obsidian or TiddlyWiki 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 TiddlyWiki free and open-source?
Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and TiddlyWiki under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Obsidian and TiddlyWiki with Docker?
Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. TiddlyWiki: check the project docs for container support.