Open-source alternatives to Obsidian

1

Joplin

Note taking application with markdown editor and encryption support for mobile and desktop platforms. Runs client-side and syncs through a self hosted Nextcloud instance or similar (alternative to…

Note-taking & Editors

57k

Stands out for the most GitHub stars. Joplin has 56,876 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 2,161 commits in the last year.

2

SiYuan

A privacy-first personal knowledge management software, written in typescript and golang.

Wikis & Knowledge BasesDocker

47k

AI-nativeStands out for AI features named in its own description. SiYuan has 46,938 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 10,181 commits in the last year.

3

Logseq

Privacy-first, local-first outliner and knowledge graph.

Note-taking & Editors

45k

Stands out for its Clojure codebase. Logseq has 45,380 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license and had 4,098 commits in the last year.

4

TriliumNext Notes

Cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with focus on building large personal knowledge bases (fork of Trilium Notes).

Note-taking & EditorsDocker

39k

Stands out for the most commits in the last 12 months (20,717). TriliumNext Notes has 38,566 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 20,717 commits in the last year.

5

SilverBullet

Note-taking application optimized for people with a hacker mindset.

Note-taking & EditorsDocker

6.4k

Stands out for a permissive MIT license. SilverBullet has 6,387 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 1,452 commits in the last year.

6

flatnotes

Database-less note-taking web app that utilises a flat folder of markdown files for storage.

Note-taking & EditorsDocker

3.3k

flatnotes has 3,263 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 10 commits in the last year.