What is Notabase used for?

Notabase is an open-source networked note-taking app with bidirectional links, a graph view and block references, available as a hosted service or self-hosted. It is a good fit for building a personal second brain or Zettelkasten, and connecting research notes and ideas.

Is Notabase open source?

Yes. Notabase is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at churichard/notabase and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Notabase is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $6.67 per month.

Can I self-host Notabase?

Yes. Notabase can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Notabase an alternative to?

Notabase is an open-source alternative to Roam Research, Obsidian, Reflect and Tana. Other open-source alternatives to Roam Research include Logseq and Tangent.

Is Notabase actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Notabase was on 17 July 2026. The project has 913 stars on GitHub.

Notabase: open-source alternative to Roam Research, Obsidian

About Notabase

Notabase is a personal knowledge base built for networked thinking. Notes link to one another, so you can move through them like web pages and notice connections you would not have found by filing them in folders. The README describes it as a personal Wikipedia you can edit and browse, and says it draws inspiration from Notion, Obsidian, Typora and Roam Research.

The editor is WYSIWYG with Markdown support. Linked and unlinked references show which other notes mention the one you are viewing, and block references embed a passage from another note that updates when the original changes. Notes can be organized with links, tags and nesting, browsed with page stacking, explored in a graph view and found through full-text search. It installs as a progressive web app for faster loading and offline viewing, and notes sync to the cloud across devices.

You can import or export your notes at any time. Notabase is written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL-3.0. The project is focused on its hosted experience, but the README says self-hosting or running it locally is possible. It is funded by sponsors and developed in the open.

Key features

Linked and unlinked note references
Block references that update automatically
Graph view of your knowledge network
WYSIWYG editor with Markdown support
Page stacking for browsing notes
Full-text search across notes
Installable PWA with offline viewing
Import and export of notes

Good fit for

→Building a personal second brain or Zettelkasten
→Connecting research notes and ideas

Built with: TypeScript
Tags: note-taking; knowledge-base; second-brain; zettelkasten; markdown; pwa; graph-view; agpl

Notabase: questions and answers

What is Notabase used for?: Notabase is an open-source networked note-taking app with bidirectional links, a graph view and block references, available as a hosted service or self-hosted. It is a good fit for building a personal second brain or Zettelkasten, and connecting research notes and ideas.
Is Notabase open source?: Yes. Notabase is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at churichard/notabase and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Notabase free?: Yes. Notabase is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $6.67 per month.
Can I self-host Notabase?: Yes. Notabase can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Notabase an alternative to?: Notabase is an open-source alternative to Roam Research, Obsidian, Reflect and Tana. Other open-source alternatives to Roam Research include Logseq and Tangent.
Is Notabase actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Notabase was on 17 July 2026. The project has 913 stars on GitHub.