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Notability vs Trilium Notes

Professional comparison and analysis to help you choose the right software solution for your needs.

Notability icon
Notability
Trilium Notes icon
Trilium Notes

Notability vs Trilium Notes: The Verdict

Last updated: May 2026 · Comparison by Sugggest Editorial Team

Feature Notability Trilium Notes
Sugggest Score
Category Education & Reference Office & Productivity
Pricing Paid Open Source

Product Overview

Notability
Notability

Description: Notability is a popular note-taking and annotation app for iOS and macOS. It allows users to take handwritten notes, type notes, record audio, annotate PDFs and more. Key features include advanced organization with search and tagging, auto-backup to the cloud, and easy sharing options.

Type: software

Pricing: Paid

Trilium Notes
Trilium Notes

Description: Trilium Notes is an open-source hierarchical note taking application focused on building large personal knowledge bases. It has a tree-structured notes system allowing easy organization of ideas and supports features like linking between notes, embedding media, tagging, encryption, etc.

Type: software

Pricing: Open Source

Key Features Comparison

Notability
Notability Features
  • Handwritten notes
  • Typed notes
  • Audio recording
  • Annotating PDFs
  • Advanced organization with search and tags
  • Auto-backup to cloud
  • Easy sharing options
Trilium Notes
Trilium Notes Features
  • Hierarchical tree-structured notes
  • Rich text notes with markdown support
  • Note linking and embedding
  • Media attachments
  • Tagging and full-text search
  • Note encryption
  • Sync through Git and WebDAV

Pros & Cons Analysis

Notability
Notability
Pros
  • Intuitive interface
  • Powerful organization features
  • Syncing across devices
  • Ability to search handwritten notes
Cons
  • No Windows version
  • PDF annotation could be better
  • Expensive subscription model
Trilium Notes
Trilium Notes
Pros
  • Open source and self-hosted
  • Very flexible organization
  • Strong linking and embedding
  • Good for large personal knowledge bases
Cons
  • No mobile apps
  • Steep learning curve
  • Formatting options limited compared to Evernote/OneNote

Pricing Comparison

Notability
Notability
  • Paid
Trilium Notes
Trilium Notes
  • Open Source

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