org-roam vs zk
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?
org-roam
Plain-text personal knowledge management for Emacs
VS
zk
Plain-text note-taking and Zettelkasten assistant
| Feature | org-roam | zk |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Wikis & Documentation |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Emacs Lisp | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,007 | ★ 2,748 |
| First released | 2020 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Roam Research, Obsidian | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose org-roam if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in Emacs Lisp
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose zk if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is org-roam or zk better?
Neither is universally better. org-roam has the larger community, while zk is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are org-roam and zk free and open-source?
Yes. org-roam is licensed under GPL-3.0 and zk under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run org-roam and zk with Docker?
org-roam: check the project docs for container support. zk: check the project docs for container support.