Obsidian vs Trilium Notes
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
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
| Feature | Obsidian | Trilium Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 21,797 | ★ 37,958 |
| First released | 2020 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion, OneNote | Evernote, Notion |
What are Obsidian and Trilium Notes?
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
Trilium Notes
Trilium Notes is a hierarchical note-taking application designed for building large personal knowledge bases with rich linking and scripting. It targets power users who want a structured second brain. It is deployed via Docker as a server with desktop and web clients.
- Deep hierarchical note tree
- Note attributes and relations
- Scripting and automation
- Encrypted protected notes
Obsidian vs Trilium Notes: key differences
Obsidian is written in JavaScript, while Trilium Notes is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Obsidian versus AGPL-3.0 for Trilium Notes. Trilium Notes is the more established project (first released 2017), while Obsidian arrived in 2020. Trilium Notes lists first-class Docker deployment; Obsidian does not.
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 Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Single-user oriented
Frequently asked questions
Is Obsidian or Trilium Notes better?
Neither is universally better. Trilium Notes has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Obsidian and Trilium Notes free and open-source?
Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and Trilium Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Obsidian and Trilium Notes with Docker?
Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. Trilium Notes: yes.