Notion vs Trilium Notes
A side-by-side look at Notion (the paid SaaS) and Trilium Notes (the open source alternative). Use this page to decide if the switch fits your team and workflow.
| Notion | Trilium Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Tagline | All-in-one workspace for notes, docs, and databases. | Hierarchical personal notes with scripting. |
| License | Proprietary SaaS | AGPL-3.0 |
| Pricing | Free tier; paid from $10/user/month. | Free to self-host |
| Self-host option | No | Yes — difficulty 2/5 |
| Hosted cloud available | Yes (only option) | No |
| Desktop apps | Varies by product | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Mobile apps | Official apps typically available | None official |
Best for
Serious personal knowledge bases with hierarchical notes.
Trilium Notes strengths
- Deep hierarchical notes with relations.
- Scripting support for automation inside notes.
- Strong for large personal knowledge bases.
Trilium Notes weaknesses
- No official mobile apps.
- UI feels dense for new users.
- Original maintainer stepped back; Trilium Next fork is active.
What's the catch with Notion?
- Data lives on someone else's server; sensitive notes feel exposed.
- Slow on large workspaces and offline support is limited.
- Export options for full workspaces are clunky.
Still unsure?
Check the full list of alternatives to Notion: see Notion alternatives, or learn more about Trilium Notes on its project page.
Recommended reading
The real monthly cost of a Notion workspace at scale
Add-ons, seats, AI credits, storage. What a mid-sized team actually pays for Notion once you count everything — and what switching saves.
When self-hosting goes wrong: seven failure modes and how to avoid them
An honest retrospective on the ways self-hosted setups break — not in theory, but in practice — and the small habits that prevent most of them.
Will the open source project you depend on still exist in three years?
Bus factor, maintainer burnout, funding models, and the signals that separate OSS projects that survive from those that quietly decay.