Open-source alternatives to Obsidian
7 self-hostable open-source projects that replace Obsidian, ranked by computed health score with 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
Your AI forgets everything between sessions. SAME fixes that. Local-first, no API keys, single binary.
Context infrastructure for AI-assisted development, on-demand Obsidian vault access via MCP
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.
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.