Open-source alternatives to Obsidian
7 open-source projects that replace Obsidian, ranked by computed health score and real self-hosting cost.
The 7 alternatives, ranked by health
Health score is a 6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.
A privacy-first, self-hosted, fully open source personal knowledge management software, written in typescript and golang.
Joplin - the privacy-focused note taking app with sync capabilities for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
Your AI second brain. Self-hostable. Get answers from the web or your docs. Build custom agents, schedule automations, do deep research. Turn any online or local LLM into your personal, autonomous AI (gpt, claude, gemini, llama, qwen, mistral). Get started - free.
PKM Markdown Language Server
Context infrastructure for AI-assisted development, on-demand Obsidian vault access via MCP
Your AI forgets everything between sessions. SAME fixes that. Local-first, no API keys, single binary.
A Claude Code plugin that gives Claude persistent memory across sessions, stores lessons and decisions as markdown in your Obsidian vault, searches them with SQLite FTS5, and mines past transcripts automatically.
Compare the top Obsidian alternatives head-to-head
Side-by-side breakdowns and self-hosting cost for the leading picks.
Pick your alternative
Most operators land on siyuan (top health score in this category; cheapest VPS path is siyuan on hetzner for $4.13/mo).
Data refreshed daily. Pricing for Obsidian sourced from official site.