Trilium Notes

A cross-platform, hierarchical note-taking app for building large personal knowledge bases, with scripting, note relations and a self-hosted sync server.

38.6k stars, 2.6k forks TypeScript On GitHub since May 2017

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is Trilium Notes?

Trilium Notes arranges notes in a deep tree, where one note can appear in several places, and links them with attributes and relations. It handles rich text, code, canvas drawings, mind maps and relation maps, encrypts selected notes, and keeps a full revision history. JavaScript scripting lets you build your own tools inside the app. The TriliumNext team continues development after the original author stepped back. It runs as a desktop app or as a server, which also syncs desktops and serves a web interface.

Good fit if

  • You keep thousands of notes and need a structure that scales.
  • You like to automate and extend your notes with scripts.

Look elsewhere if

  • You want a Markdown outliner around daily journals: Logseq.
  • You want a team wiki: Outline or Wiki.js.

Before you adopt it

Trilium Notes is AGPL-3.0, with no paid parts. A single container runs the server. Most of the code comes from a few core maintainers.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 30 October 2026. Report a correction

Trilium Notes health: is it still maintained?

80 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    7,722 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 31 October 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    2 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 71% of them.
    6 / 20
  • Releases
    14 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v0.106.1, on 23 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 100% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 2 hours.
    20 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 1 November 2026. How the score works

Trilium Notes license: is it open source?

Trilium Notes uses AGPL-3.0, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. May 2017First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayAGPL-3.0.

How to run Trilium Notes yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
docker-compose.yml: 1 service
Setup effort
1 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
Builds for Windows, macOS, Linux, including ARM in GitHub releases
Interface languages
81 languages

Install instructions: triliumnotes.org or the README on GitHub.

Alternatives to Trilium Notes

  • NotesnookA fully open source & end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote. 74 health · GPL-3.0 · 14.9k stars
  • AFFiNEThere can be more than Notion and Miro. AFFiNE(pronounced [ə‘fain]) is a next-gen knowledge base that brings… 77 health · MIT · 74k stars
  • SiYuanAn open-source, privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge workspace where humans and AI agents work together… 75 health · AGPL-3.0 · 47k stars
  • LogseqA privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration. Download link:… 69 health · AGPL-3.0 · 45.4k stars
  • QOwnNotesQOwnNotes is a plain-text file notepad and todo-list manager with Markdown support and Nextcloud / ownCloud… 79 health · GPL-2.0 · 5.9k stars

All 34 projects in Notes & knowledge bases

Questions about Trilium Notes

Is Trilium Notes open source?

Yes. Trilium Notes is published under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Trilium Notes still maintained?

Its health score is 80 of 100 (actively developed). It had 7,722 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 31 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 23 October 2026.

How do I run Trilium Notes?

You can run it with Docker, as an app for Windows, macOS, Linux, including ARM. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to Trilium Notes?

Close alternatives in the Notes & knowledge bases category include Notesnook, AFFiNE, SiYuan.