Jotty vs NoteDiscovery
We give Jotty a 3.2 GPA and NoteDiscovery a 3.0, out of 4.0. Jotty grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base that runs in the browser
Free
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAJottyVery good | 3.0GPANoteDiscoveryVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source under AGPL-3.0, with no paid plans at all. The site says the project is fully and forever open source. You provide the server, and donations are optional. | AFree and open source under the MIT licence. The site says there are no paid tiers, no accounts and no telemetry. You'd only pay if you rent a server or deploy through PikaPods, which is a separate hosting service. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe full app is free: notes, checklists, Kanban, encryption, sharing, sign-in options and the API. Nothing is kept back, because there's no paid plan to keep it for. | AThe full app is free and there's nothing above it to upgrade to. Install it with Docker, or run it directly with Python 3.8 or higher. |
| Features | AA rich-text editor that saves Markdown, checklists that grow into Kanban projects with a time tracker and calendar, wikilinks and @mentions that work both ways, a 2D or 3D map of your links, encryption per note and sharing by public link. That's a lot for free. | BAn editor with split and preview modes, [[wikilinks]], a backlinks panel, a graph view, tags, templates, LaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams and a sketch editor. That's a good spread. But text search covers what's inside notes only, not file or folder names, and it's set up for a single user. |
| Ease of use | DIt has to be self-hosted. Docker Compose is the recommended route, with a Proxmox script and an Unraid template as other ways in. And the developer advises backing up the data folder before every feature update, so there's upkeep too. | DYou must host it yourself. There's no hosted version from the maker, so step one is a server and a Docker container. Want more than one user? The README points you to a reverse proxy with OAuth or SSO. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web app with a REST API, an optional MCP server for AI clients, and sign-in through OIDC or LDAP. There's no native app. The PWA caches pages you've already visited, but creating or editing offline isn't supported. | BA web app you can install as a PWA on a phone or computer, with a built-in MCP server that hooks it up to Claude Desktop, Cursor, Ollama and Open WebUI. There are no native desktop or mobile apps. |
| Best for | notes and checklists on a server you run | reaching a folder of Markdown notes from any browser |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Jotty and NoteDiscovery. How we grade
Where they differ
- Jotty is free. NoteDiscovery is free.
- Jotty also covers tasks and kanban boards.
- NoteDiscovery also covers templates.
In commonFree planWebOpen sourceSelf-hostableNotesMarkdownLinked notes
At a glance
| Jotty | NoteDiscovery | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Free and open source under AGPL-3.0, with no paid plans. The site says the project is fully and forever open source; you provide the server, and donations are optional. | Free and open source under the MIT license. The site states there are no paid tiers, no accounts and no telemetry; you run it on your own server. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | fccview | Gamosoft |
| Price read from | jotty.page | notediscovery.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Jotty
- Self-hosters who want notes and checklists in one app
- Households or small groups sharing lists on their own server
- People who want their data as Markdown files, not in a database
NoteDiscovery
- Self-hosters who want notes kept as Markdown files on their own server
- People with an Obsidian vault who want to reach it from a browser
- Connecting a personal note collection to AI assistants over MCP
Worth knowing
Jotty
- It has to be self-hosted: Docker Compose is the recommended route, with a Proxmox script and an Unraid template as alternatives.
- There is no native app. The PWA caches pages already visited, but creating or editing items offline is not supported.
- The developer advises backing up the data folder before every feature update, since those can change data structures.
- The MCP server for AI clients is a separate container that has to be run alongside Jotty.
NoteDiscovery
- There is no hosted version from the maker and no cloud sync: you run a server yourself or deploy through PikaPods, a separate hosting service.
- There are no native desktop or mobile apps; it is used in a browser and can be installed as a progressive web app.
- Password protection is off by default and is one password built for single-user use; the README suggests a reverse proxy with OAuth or SSO for multi-user setups.
- Text search covers note contents only, not file or folder names.
Key features
Jotty
- Checklists and task projects
- Simple checklists have progress bars, nested categories, drag and drop and bulk add. Task projects add Kanban boards with custom statuses, a time tracker and a calendar view for due dates.
- Rich-text notes in Markdown
- A WYSIWYG editor built on TipTap saves GitHub Flavored Markdown, with code highlighting, callouts, diagrams, tags and a switch to the Markdown source.
- File-based storage
- Checklists and notes are Markdown files and users and settings are JSON, all in one data folder with no database. Backing up an instance means copying that folder.
- Links and the brain view
- Wikilinks and @mentions connect notes and checklists in both directions. A 2D or 3D map shows how items connect and suggests links that have not been made.
- Note encryption
- Any note can be encrypted with a passphrase using XChaCha20-Poly1305 or with PGP keys, and the file stays encrypted on disk until you choose to decrypt it.
- Sharing, sign-in and API
- Items can be shared with other users on the instance or by public link, with OIDC, LDAP and MFA sign-in. A REST API and an optional MCP server allow automation.
NoteDiscovery
- Markdown editor with live preview
- Edit, split and preview modes with auto-save, code highlighting, LaTeX math through MathJax and Mermaid diagrams.
- Wikilinks, backlinks and graph view
- Notes link with [[wikilink]] syntax, a backlinks panel shows which notes point at the current one, and an interactive graph maps the connections.
- Plain-file storage
- Notes are Markdown files in normal folders, so an existing Obsidian vault can be dropped in and the files open in any other Markdown editor.
- Built-in MCP server
- A Model Context Protocol server lets assistants such as Claude Desktop and Cursor search, create, edit and organize notes.
- Tags and templates
- Tags are set in YAML frontmatter and can be combined with text search. New notes can start from templates with dynamic placeholders.
- Drawing editor and public sharing
- Sketches are saved as PNG files beside the notes, and a note can be shared through a token-based link or exported as standalone HTML.
Plans
Jotty
Jotty$0
The full app as a single Docker image, with a Proxmox community script and an Unraid template as other ways to install it.
NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery$0
The full self-hosted app, installed with Docker or run directly with Python 3.8 or higher.
