Trilium vs zennotes
Personal knowledge base apps compared
Trilium and zennotes both support building and organizing a personal collection of notes across desktop and self-hosted use. Trilium centers on a structured knowledge base with rich note types and relations, while zennotes works directly with Markdown files and emphasizes keyboard-first editing.
Trilium: Build and Organize a Personal Knowledge Base
Trilium is a cross-platform note-taking app for building and maintaining large personal knowledge bases. It combines a hierarchical note tree with search, linking, versioning, scripting, and options for self-hosting and synchronization.
zennotes: Keep Markdown Notes in an Electron App and Web Server
ZenNotes is a keyboard-first Markdown notes app built with Electron for desktop and a Go server for self-hosted web use. It keeps notes as ordinary local files and adds Vim-friendly editing, search, diagrams, tasks, and MCP integration.
| Trilium | zennotes | |
|---|---|---|
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Stars | 38.2k | 2.6k |
| Forks | 2.6k | 154 |
| Last analyzed | Oct 3, 2026 | Nov 6, 2026 |
Key differences
- Trilium organizes notes in a hierarchical tree and supports rich text, code, canvas, and mind map notes; zennotes stores notes as plain Markdown files in folders.
- Trilium offers note relations, revisions, protected-note encryption, and publishing; zennotes emphasizes Vim motions, tasks, diagrams, and Markdown previews.
- Trilium is written in TypeScript and uses the AGPL-3.0 license; zennotes is written in TypeScript and uses the MIT license.
- Trilium provides desktop and self-hosted server options, with synchronization through a sync server; zennotes offers an Electron desktop app and a Go-backed self-hosted web app.
- Trilium is suited to users building a broad, structured knowledge base; zennotes is aimed at Markdown users who want direct access to their vault files and keyboard-driven tools.
- zennotes describes its desktop app as more mature than its web version, while Trilium notes that server use requires users to install and maintain an instance.
Choose Trilium if you…
- need a hierarchical knowledge base with notes that can appear in multiple places and link to one another.
- want rich note types, note revisions, protected-note encryption, or web publishing.
- plan to use attributes, scripting, or the REST API to query and automate knowledge workflows.
Choose zennotes if you…
- prefer storing notes as ordinary Markdown files that remain accessible to other tools.
- want Vim motions, keyboard-first editing, and built-in task and diagram workflows.
- want to work with an existing Obsidian-style vault or connect CLI and MCP tools to it.
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This comparison is generated with AI from the OSRepos analyses of both projects. Always check each project's repository and documentation before choosing.