Keep a large personal knowledge base as a tree of notes and sync your desktop apps with a server at home using this hierarchical FOSS note-taking app.
How Trilium Notes stacks up against other productivity apps. Add or remove apps to change the comparison.
| Requirement | Trilium Notes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free + Paid | Free | Free | Free + Paid | Free + Paid | Free | Free | Free + Paid |
| Web UI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Architecture | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM | x86 + ARM |
| Min hardware | Not stated | 1 core · 2 GB RAM | Not stated | a few hundred MB RAM | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | 4 cores · 2 GB RAM · 1.5 GB |
| Containers | 1The app alone | Worth checking: 4Plus MySQL, Redis, LocalStack | NoneRuns locally | 1The app alone | 2Plus Postgres | 1The app alone | 1The app alone | 1The app alone | 3Plus Postgres, Redis |
| Database | SQLite | MySQL | file only | file only | Postgres | SQLite | SQLite | file only | PostgreSQL |
| Runtime | Node.js | Node.js | Node.js | Rust | Node.js | Node.js | Go | Go | Node / Rust |
| Docker | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Linux package | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | – | – | – | Yes | – |
| Windows | Yes | – | – | Yes | – | – | – | Yes | – |
| macOS | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | – | – | – | Yes | – |
| Node.js | – | – | Yes | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| iOS | – | Yes | – | – | – | Yes | – | Yes | Yes |
| Android | – | Yes | – | – | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | – | – | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | – | – | Yes |
| Full comparison | This app | Standard Notes vs Trilium Notes | TiddlyWiki vs Trilium Notes | SilverBullet vs Trilium Notes | Blinko vs Trilium Notes | – | – | – | – |
Official client for desktop.
Run docker run -p 8080:8080 -d -v ./data:/home/node/trilium-data triliumnext/trilium, then open port 8080. Notes live in an SQLite database in the mounted folder, and the docs advise pinning a version tag instead of latest.
Each desktop app keeps its own copy and syncs to the server address you set under Options, Sync. When two copies change, Trilium keeps the newer edit and drops the older one, and the clocks on both ends must be within five minutes.
No. There is no official mobile app, so open the server in a mobile browser or install its web interface as a PWA.
More apps in Productivity.
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Keep notes, tags and files encrypted on your devices and sync them through a server you run, with clients for phones, desktop and the browser. The V2 server is four containers, and the official apps accept your own address under Advanced options.
Capture a thought in Blinko and it sits as a Markdown card you can tag, search and expand into a full note. The note app's AI search, tagging and chat run against Ollama on your own hardware, or a hosted model if you prefer.
CryptPad is an encrypted office suite you host yourself. Write a document, sheet or slide deck in the browser and it encrypts the copy on your machine before it reaches the server. Rich text, forms, kanban boards, diagrams and whiteboards use the same encryption. Shared drives, access lists, document history and guest links cover a household or a small group.
Write markdown together in a browser-based editor and watch the edits land as they are typed. HedgeDoc keeps the notes on your server, renders diagrams and slides from the same text, and gives each note a permission level you pick before you share the link.
Save quick Markdown notes to a private timeline on your own server, with tags, search and optional sharing.
Write notes in Markdown in a browser tab and keep them as plain files in a folder on your own server. SilverBullet adds wiki links, live queries and Lua scripting. The same space can hold a journal, a task list and a small database that updates itself.
Write Markdown notes with block-level links in a privacy-first workspace, served to your browser from your own server.
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