Trilium Notes
A hierarchical notes app for building a large personal knowledge base
Alternative toEvernote
Trilium Notes organises notes in a deep tree, lets one note live in several places, and adds scripting, relation maps and encrypted notes. The community maintained version is AGPL-3.0 licensed, runs as a desktop app, and can sync through a server you host.
Best for when
- you keep a large personal knowledge base and outgrow flat notebooks
- you want scripting and attributes to automate your notes
- you want notes synced between computers through your own server
Watch out for
- notes live in its own database, so leaving means exporting rather than copying Markdown files
- there is no full native mobile app, only a mobile web interface
- the move from the original project to the community fork means older guides point to old repositories
Notes as a tree you can script
Trilium is built for people who keep thousands of notes. Every note sits in a tree, can be cloned into other branches without copying, and can carry attributes that drive templates, search and automation. There are rich text, code, canvas, mind map and relation map note types, and protected notes are encrypted.
The original author stepped back and the project continues under the TriliumNext community, now in the main Trilium repository. It suits someone who wants a deep, structured second brain they control, and who does not mind learning its concepts.
What running it costs
You can use it as a desktop app only, with no server at all. A sync server is a small Node.js process with an SQLite database, so a few hundred megabytes of RAM covers it. Backing up means backing up that database file, and Trilium also makes its own periodic backups.
Use the server over a VPN or behind HTTPS with a strong password, since it holds everything you write. On phones there is a mobile web interface rather than a full native app, so heavy editing is a desktop habit.
