TiddlyWiki 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?
TiddlyWiki
A non-linear personal web notebook in a single file
VS
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
| Feature | TiddlyWiki | Trilium Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Wikis & Documentation | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,622 | ★ 37,298 |
| First released | 2004 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Notion, OneNote | Evernote, Notion |
Why pick each one
Choose Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Frequently asked questions
Is TiddlyWiki 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 TiddlyWiki and Trilium Notes free and open-source?
Yes. TiddlyWiki is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Trilium Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run TiddlyWiki and Trilium Notes with Docker?
TiddlyWiki: check the project docs for container support. Trilium Notes: yes.