HelixNotes vs Rowboat
Comparing two open source alternatives to Obsidian and Notion. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.
HelixNotes
AGPL-3.0A fast, privacy-first local markdown note-taking app built with Tauri and SvelteKit. Your notes stay as plain .md files on your device.
Rowboat
Apache-2.0Open-source desktop AI coworker with a living knowledge graph, built-in email, browser, meeting notes, and code mode.
Side-by-side comparison
| HelixNotes | Rowboat | |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-hostable | No | Yes |
| GitHub Stars | 155 | 17,995 |
| Forks | 15 | 1,795 |
| Open Issues | 57 | 195 |
| Last Commit | Jul 23, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
| First Released | Feb 9, 2026 | Jan 13, 2025 |
| Categories | ||
| Tags |
GitHub stars over time
GitHub stars over time
Similar open source alternatives
Kestra
Event-driven workflow orchestration platform with a YAML-based pipeline DSL, 500+ plugins, and a built-in UI editor.
Zapier
AppFlowy
Open source Notion alternative that brings projects, wikis, and teams together with AI while keeping you in control of your data.
Notion
Jotty
Lightweight self-hosted app for managing personal file-based notes and checklists.
Notion
Outline
The fastest growing-team knowledge base — beautiful, realtime collaborative, feature packed, and markdown compatible Notion and Confluence alternative.
Notion
Sim
Sim is an open-source workspace to build, deploy, and orchestrate AI agents and agentic workflows. Visually connect LLMs, tools, and data sources without giving up control.
Lindy AI
memos
Privacy-first, self-hosted note-taking platform with markdown support, tagging, and built-in AI — a lightweight alternative to Notion and Obsidian.
Obsidian