MarkText Workspace vs Trilium Notes
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?
MarkText Workspace
Self-hosted markdown document workspace
VS
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
| Feature | MarkText Workspace | Trilium Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Office Suites | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,572 | ★ 37,298 |
| First released | 2022 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Dropbox Paper, Notion | Evernote, Notion |
Why pick each one
Choose MarkText Workspace if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 12.6k GitHub stars
Choose Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Frequently asked questions
Is MarkText Workspace 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 MarkText Workspace and Trilium Notes free and open-source?
Yes. MarkText Workspace is licensed under MIT and Trilium Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MarkText Workspace and Trilium Notes with Docker?
MarkText Workspace: yes. Trilium Notes: yes.