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Obsidian vs Zettlr

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — 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 ZE Zettlr Markdown editor for writers, researchers, and Zettelkasten users
FeatureObsidianZettlr
Deploy effortRead-the-docs projectRead-the-docs project
Health score96 · Excellent94 · Excellent
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseProprietaryGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinarybare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 21,797★ 13,577
First released20202017
ReplacesEvernote, Notion, OneNoteNotion, Obsidian

What are Obsidian and Zettlr?

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

Read the full Obsidian guide →

Zettlr

Zettlr is a desktop Markdown editor designed for academic writing and Zettelkasten note management, with citation support and internal linking. While desktop-first, it works on plain Markdown folders that can sync between machines.

  • Zettelkasten linking
  • Citation manager support
  • Multi-format export
  • Folder-based projects

Read the full Zettlr guide →

Obsidian vs Zettlr: key differences

Obsidian is written in JavaScript, while Zettlr is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Obsidian versus GPL-3.0 for Zettlr. Zettlr is the more established project (first released 2017), while Obsidian arrived in 2020.

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
Obsidian details

Choose Zettlr if…

  • Strong academic features
  • Plain Markdown files

Watch out for

  • Desktop only
  • No native sync server
Zettlr details

Frequently asked questions

Is Obsidian or Zettlr 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 Zettlr free and open-source?

Yes. Obsidian is licensed under Proprietary and Zettlr under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Obsidian and Zettlr with Docker?

Obsidian: check the project docs for container support. Zettlr: check the project docs for container support.

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