Links checked 2026-10-14
Self-hosting Trilium Notes
The self-hosted route instead of Notion, Obsidian.
One container, one volume, one client. The install is genuinely small; the discipline it needs is a backup that gets tested.
What it is
A hierarchical note-taking application built for large personal knowledge bases: notes nest arbitrarily deep, and a self-hosted server keeps a desktop client in sync. The project is now maintained as TriliumNext, which is what the original repository address resolves to today.
What you actually need
This is the reader's own hardware and configuration, not a price. We describe what a job needs; we do not put a figure on what self-hosting costs, because that depends on the provider, the term and the disk you choose.
- The server
- A small VPS. The server exists to sync notes between your own devices, so the load is one person's writing rather than a team's traffic.
- How it installs
- The published container image with a data volume is the documented self-hosting path; desktop builds are the way you actually read and write.
- Data store
- There is no separate database service in the documented container setup: the server keeps its data inside the directory that gets mounted into the container.
- What grows
- That data directory holds notes and their attachments together. It grows with what you paste into it, which for a knowledge base is rarely small.
Before it is safe to expose
- A reverse proxy and TLS if the server is reachable outside your network
- A backup of the data directory, with at least one restore tried
- The desktop client on each device you sync
The trade-offs, specifically for Trilium Notes
- This is a personal knowledge base, not a team wiki: multi-user collaboration is not what the product is.
- The notes live in one data directory alongside their attachments. Backing up half of it is the same as backing up none of it.
- The desktop client is the main way in. Running the server alone gives you a sync endpoint and a web view, not the whole application.
- The project moved from its original repository to TriliumNext, so guides and scripts written for the older address may not match current releases.
And the six things you own from now on
These are true of every tool in this section, including Trilium Notes. They are also the reason to decide against self-hosting, which is a legitimate decision.
- You own the updates. Security releases have to be applied by you, on your schedule, and a project that stops publishing releases becomes your problem to notice.
- You own the backups, and a backup is not a backup until you have restored from it once.
- You own the uptime. There is no status page to watch and no support line to call when it stops answering.
- You own the security patches, the TLS certificate, the reverse proxy and the firewall in front of it.
- You are the on-call rota. The failure mode nobody plans for is being the only person who knows how the thing was set up.
- The hardware has a running cost and a lifetime. Disks fail, and the replacement is on you.
What you give up
- The hosted service's managed sync and someone else's backups
- Team-facing collaboration features, which this does not provide in the first place
What you gain
- Notes that stay readable and exportable on hardware you own
- No subscription, and no vendor able to change the terms on your archive
Elsewhere in the index
The box it runs on
A small VPS. The server exists to sync notes between your own devices, so the load is one person's writing rather than a team's traffic. That machine is the purchase this page is really about, and it is the one number we will not invent for you: the right size depends on the provider, the term and the disk, so check it on the provider's own page.
Hostinger
Hostinger's VPS product is the closest fit to a self-hosted application: its own page advertises root access, Docker and NVMe storage, with data centres in several regions.
See Hostinger's plansRead Hostinger's published pricing ↗DigitalOcean
Virtual machines billed as you use them, with separate volumes, snapshots and object storage for the parts you want to keep outside the server.
See DigitalOcean's plansRead DigitalOcean's published pricing ↗Hetzner
Cloud instances and dedicated servers with rates published per instance size, so the cost of a bigger box is visible before you move.
See Hetzner's plansRead Hetzner's published pricing ↗What to check before you buy
- A virtual machine you have root on, not a website plan with a control panel bolted on top.
- Snapshots or automated backups, and where those backups are stored.
- Block storage or object storage for the data that will outgrow the server's own disk.
- What the monthly rate renews at, rather than the first-term rate on the signup page.
- Where the data centre is, if the data has a jurisdiction attached to it.
The “See plans” links go through our own /go/ redirect and some are affiliate links, which pay us if you sign up. The descriptions and trade-offs on this page are written from the project's own documentation and are unaffected. The plain pricing link under each provider is not an affiliate link. See our disclosure.
Frequently asked questions about self-hosting Trilium Notes
Answers restate the notes on this page or point at the project's own documentation. Self-hosting moves work to you rather than removing it, and these answers say so.
What is Trilium Notes?
A hierarchical note-taking application built for large personal knowledge bases: notes nest arbitrarily deep, and a self-hosted server keeps a desktop client in sync. We cover it as a replacement for Notion, Obsidian.
What do you need to run Trilium Notes yourself?
The published container image with a data volume is the documented self-hosting path; desktop builds are the way you actually read and write. The requirements table on this page lists the server, the data store, what grows and what else to arrange first. Setup steps are at Trilium's own site.
How hard is Trilium Notes to run yourself?
We rate it Straightforward. One container, one volume, one client. The install is genuinely small; the discipline it needs is a backup that gets tested.
What are the trade-offs of self-hosting Trilium Notes?
Our notes list these costs. This is a personal knowledge base, not a team wiki: multi-user collaboration is not what the product is. The notes live in one data directory alongside their attachments. Backing up half of it is the same as backing up none of it.
What do you give up by running Trilium Notes yourself?
You take on what Notion, Obsidian used to do for you. The hosted service's managed sync and someone else's backups. Team-facing collaboration features, which this does not provide in the first place. Self-hosting moves that work to you rather than removing it.
What do you gain by running Trilium Notes yourself?
Our notes list these. Notes that stay readable and exportable on hardware you own. No subscription, and no vendor able to change the terms on your archive.