Trilium Notes vs VNote
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?
Trilium Notes
Hierarchical note-taking for building knowledge bases
VS
VNote
Markdown note-taking application built for programmers
| Feature | Trilium Notes | VNote |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,298 | ★ 12,885 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Evernote, Notion | Evernote, OneNote |
Why pick each one
Choose Trilium Notes if…
- Powerful for big knowledge bases
- Flexible structure
- Scriptable
Frequently asked questions
Is Trilium Notes or VNote 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 Trilium Notes and VNote free and open-source?
Yes. Trilium Notes is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and VNote under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Trilium Notes and VNote with Docker?
Trilium Notes: yes. VNote: check the project docs for container support.