Economics of TriliumNext 0.91 surge for markdown note-taking teams

I favor the stability of TriliumNext for teams that prioritize high maintenance volume

I see teams weighing the subscription cost of Obsidian Sync against the infrastructure costs of self-hosting TriliumNext or SiYuan. Obsidian provides a free editor, but syncing markdown files across devices requires a subscription. I see teams moving toward TriliumNext because the project maintains a 99/100 health score with 1,968 commits in September 2026, making it a stable choice for those who refuse to pay Obsidian’s subscription for markdown file synchronization. TriliumNext is a cross-platform hierarchical note taking application with a focus on building large personal knowledge bases. It runs client-side and syncs through a self-hosted Nextcloud instance or similar. If you are managing a team, you must account for the configuration across all devices. This introduces operational overhead compared to managed cloud services. TriliumNext has 38,000 stars and includes markdown editor and encryption support. SiYuan also has a 99/100 health score and 47,000 stars. SiYuan shows 1,898 commits in September 2026, which follows 1,409 commits in August and 1,766 commits in July and 1,138 commits in June. SiYuan is a privacy-first personal knowledge management software written in typescript and golang. This software suits individuals who want absolute control over personal notes without relying on third-party cloud services. The AGPL-3.0 licence may impose copyleft constraints if you plan to modify and distribute the code.

Logseq and the SQLite factor

Logseq manages hierarchical structures through its Library implementation, which uses namespace pages for page management. This implementation renamed the property "Parent" to "Extends". Logseq is a privacy-first, open-source knowledge management app for outlining, linking and annotating notes in Markdown or Org-mode. The software also includes a dark theme for iOS, native inline calendars for iOS devices, and a system theme mode for mobile. I find that the data management in Logseq requires attention because the system exports SQLite every 30 seconds and runs vacuum during garbage collection. This differs from Joplin, which is a lightweight, single-tenant personal wiki that works with a SQLite db file. Joplin has 57,000 stars and a 92/100 health score. Joplin includes markdown editing and encryption support for mobile and desktop platforms and acts as an alternative to Evernote. Memos is another alternative with 64,000 stars and a 90/100 health score. Memos is a knowledge base that works with a SQLite db file. Docs is a collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales with 17,000 stars and 89/100 health score. SilverBullet is a note-taking application optimized for people with a hacker mindset with 6,400 stars and 87/100 health score. HedgeDoc is a collaborative markdown notes platform with 7,500 stars and 81/100 health score. Do you think the reliance on SQLite for Logseq makes it less suitable for high-concurrency teams than a dedicated database solution?

Managing infrastructure for note teams

Infrastructure costs determine whether a team adopts a tool like Memos or SiYuan. Memos is a collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales, but it requires significant infrastructure resources to run. It works with a SQLite db file and has 64,000 stars. Running SiYuan requires a minimum of 2 GB RAM, 1 to 2 vCPU, and 20 GB of disk. These requirements come from the runtime SiYuan is built on. You can run SiYuan on any VPS with 2 GB of RAM, and providers like Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr, or OVH sell that tier for a few euros a month. For teams with smaller needs, Jotty is a lightweight alternative with 2,000 stars and a 74/100 health score. Jotty is an alternative for managing personal, file based notes and checklists. Standard Notes is another option with 6,700 stars and a 72/100 health score. Standard Notes is a simple and private notes app. Syncthing is a peer-to-peer file synchronization tool with 90,000 stars and a 71/100 health score. HedgeDoc uses an AGPL-3.0 license. I would skip the bonus buy of complex enterprise suites if your team prefers simple markdown files.