Trilium vs Foam
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, ratings, and alternatives.
Trilium is a note-taking application with a strong focus on building large personal knowledge bases. It is designed to be a long-term companion for thinking and learning. Trilium stores data in a central database, allowing notes to be organized in a tree-like structure with tags and links.
Foam is a free, open-source note-taking application that uses a graph database to store notes as a network of interconnected ideas. It's designed to help users create a knowledge graph, where each note is a node that can be linked to other notes, creating a web of relationships between ideas.
- Highly customizable
- Powerful full-text search
- Hierarchical structure
- Open-source and self-hosted
- Highly customizable and extensible
- Strong focus on knowledge management
- Simple, distraction-free interface
- Free and open-source
- Steep learning curve
- Limited mobile support
- Not suitable for simple note-taking
- Steep learning curve
- Limited mobile support
- Not suitable for large-scale collaboration
More alternatives & similar tools
Alternatives to Trilium
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The Verdict
AI-generated from listing dataBoth Trilium and Foam are free, open‑source note‑taking tools for knowledge workers, but Trilium offers deeper hierarchical organization while Foam provides a graph‑database backend and an extensible plugin API.
Key differences
- •Trilium uses a hierarchical tree structure; Foam stores notes in a graph database.
- •Foam offers an API and plugin ecosystem; Trilium has no API.
- •Mobile support is limited for both, but neither provides dedicated apps.
- •Trilium has a larger community (36.9k GitHub stars vs 17.3k).
- •Foam includes built‑in GitHub integration; Trilium does not.
Pricing & value
Both are free and open‑source, offering comparable cost‑free value.
Ease of use / learning curve
Both have steep learning curves, but Foam’s distraction‑free UI is slightly simpler for new users.
Features & depth
Trilium provides powerful full‑text search, hierarchical tagging, and extensive customization out‑of‑the‑box.
Integrations & ecosystem
Foam includes an API, plugin architecture, and native GitHub integration; Trilium has no API.
Collaboration
Foam’s GitHub integration enables version‑controlled sharing; Trilium lacks built‑in collaboration features.
Scalability
Trilium’s hierarchical model and full‑text indexing handle large note collections better than Foam’s graph approach.
Support
Foam offers email support plus GitHub Issues; Trilium only provides GitHub Issues.
Choose Trilium if…
Researchers needing deep hierarchical organization, powerful search, and self‑hosting without API needs.
Choose Foam if…
Knowledge workers who want extensibility, API access, and GitHub‑based collaboration.
Common questions
Is there any cost to use either tool?
Both Trilium and Foam are free and open‑source.
Can I integrate the note system with other services?
Foam provides an API and GitHub integration; Trilium does not offer an API.
Which tool handles very large note collections better?
Trilium’s hierarchical structure and full‑text search are designed for large‑scale knowledge bases.