SiYuan
Privacy-first personal knowledge management software, written in typescript and golang.
Best self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools software in 2026
Knowledge management is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information.
We track 12 open-source, self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps. 9 of them had commits in the last 90 days, 8 can run with Docker, and the most common licenses are MIT (6), AGPL-3.0 (3), GPL-3.0 (1). The most-used languages are Nodejs, PHP, Go. Below are the top picks by GitHub stars, followed by every app ranked by stars weighted by maintenance health.
Alternatives to NotionAlternatives to ConfluenceAlternatives to ObsidianAlternatives to Roam ResearchAlternatives to GitBookAlternatives to Document360
Top 5 by GitHub stars
| # | App | Stars | Health | Last activity | License | Language | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SiYuan | 47.2k | Active | 2026-11-10 | AGPL-3.0 | Docker, Go | ✓ |
| 2 | Docs | 17k | Active | 2026-11-05 | MIT | K8S | – |
| 3 | NoteDiscovery | 2.9k | Active | 2026-11-09 | MIT | Docker, Python | ✓ |
| 4 | Aleph | 2.5k | Maintained | 2025-12-19 | MIT | Docker, K8S | ✓ |
| 5 | Atomic Server | 1.6k | Active | 2026-11-09 | MIT | Docker, Rust | ✓ |
- SiYuan — Privacy-first personal knowledge management software, written in typescript and golang.
- Docs — Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.
- NoteDiscovery — Markdown note-taking app with plain-file storage, graph view, and MCP integration (alternative to Obsidian, Notion).
- Aleph — Tool for indexing large amounts of both documents (PDF, Word, HTML) and structured (CSV, XLS, SQL) data for easy browsing and search. It is built with investigative reporting as a primary use case.
- Atomic Server — Knowledge graph database with documents (similar to Notion), tables, search, and a powerful linked data API. Lightweight, very fast and no runtime dependencies.
Head-to-head comparisons
Docs vs SiYuanNoteDiscovery vs SiYuanAleph vs SiYuanDocs vs NoteDiscoveryAleph vs DocsAleph vs NoteDiscovery
All 12 self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps
Ranked by GitHub stars weighted by maintenance health.
Docs
Collaborative note taking, wiki and documentation platform that scales.
NoteDiscovery
Markdown note-taking app with plain-file storage, graph view, and MCP integration (alternative to Obsidian, Notion).
Atomic Server
Knowledge graph database with documents (similar to Notion), tables, search, and a powerful linked data API. Lightweight, very fast and no runtime dependencies.
Marmot
Data catalog for discovering and organizing data assets across your stack, including databases, APIs, message queues, and pipelines.
TeamMapper
Host and create your own mindmaps. Share your mindmap sessions with your team and collaborate live on mindmaps.
Aleph
Tool for indexing large amounts of both documents (PDF, Word, HTML) and structured (CSV, XLS, SQL) data for easy browsing and search. It is built with investigative reporting as a primary use case.
LibreKB
Web-based knowledge base solution. A simple web app, it runs on pretty much any web server or hosting provider with PHP and MySQL.
Digimindmap
Create simple mindmaps (documentation in French).
memEx
Structured personal knowledge base, inspired by zettlekasten and org-mode.
QST
Online assessment software. From a quick quiz on your phone to large scale, high stakes, proctored desktop testing, easy, secure and economical.
Wiznote
Manage your knowledge in documents with folders, markdown, full text search and webpage collection support.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools software in 2026?
By GitHub stars, the most popular self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps are SiYuan (47,217 stars), Docs (16,982 stars), NoteDiscovery (2,874 stars). Popularity is only one signal: also check maintenance health, license and whether it fits your setup.
How many self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps are actively maintained?
9 of the 12 apps listed had commits in the last 90 days and 1 more in the last 12 months; for 2 we have no repository activity data.
Which self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps can I run with Docker?
8 of the 12 apps can run with Docker; 1 publish an image on Docker Hub, including Aleph.
Which licenses do self-hosted Knowledge Management Tools apps use?
The most common licenses in this category are MIT (6 apps), AGPL-3.0 (3 apps), GPL-3.0 (1 apps).
How much does it cost to self-host Knowledge Management Tools software?
The software itself is free to download. Based on our rough hardware estimates, the cheapest suitable VPS plan starts at about $3.5/month (median $5/month across apps in this category). Several light apps can share one server.
Related categories
Figures from GitHub and Docker Hub as of 2026-11-15; hosting costs are rough estimates.