Ask HN: What is your go-to solution for a personal wiki in 2026?

16 points by ex-aws-dude 10 days ago | 21 comments

I've used Notion for a long time but I'm interested to hear what other alternatives exist in 2026?

For me the main requirements are:

* Backed up to cloud

* Has a mobile app that is easy to make small changes (for example if I'm doing an oil change on my car I need to be able to pull out my phone and log it in the wiki easily)

* Simple file format like markdown so that you're not locked into something proprietary (no need for crazy formatting options like MSWord)

* Option to export data out as a backup

* Allow uploading arbitrary files like PDFs, images, receipts etc...

* Nice to have: support for inline tables of data with simple calculations/sorting

kirubakaran 10 days ago |

https://hyperclast.com/

I built it because Notion is way too slow. I loved Obsidian, but I wanted it to be multi-player so my whole team could use it. It is fast, open, and self-hostable.

It meets all the criteria you listed except the mobile app. Mobile app will be out next week. I'd happy to build any other features you need. Just let me know at k@hyperclast.com :-)

farseer 10 days ago | |

Your self hosted option only works for up to 5 employees and prices for more are not listed.

kirubakaran 10 days ago | | |

Thanks for checking it out. Pricing for self-hosted option is the same as hosted. But I'm happy to offer a discount on top of that for larger teams.

mts_building 9 days ago |

From what you say, I would say Notion is, indeed, the best option. You could also try an app like Obsidian or any more specific app in any App Store. You could even go as far as using AI (even a locally host model if you want full control/privacy), that will keep a wiki up to date for you by having you just input “raw” data.

doritosfan84 10 days ago |

I was on Obsidian for a while, moved away to try Supernotes and other competitors, and now I'm in the process of moving back to Obsidian.

Has everything you want I think with plugins to do a ton more while still essentially being just Markdown.

ex-aws-dude 10 days ago | |

The part I'm a bit confused about with obsidian is how it works with a mobile app

My understanding is every device syncs its own full copy of everything?

So if you have a lot of images/PDFs, does your phone have to be able to hold everything at once?

frangonf 10 days ago | | |

If you pay for obsidian sync, you have device specific selective sync options: https://obsidian.md/help/sync/settings#Selective+syncing

dcchambers 10 days ago |

Obsidian.

Checks all of your boxes:

   - Backed up to cloud 
   - Has a mobile app that is easy to make small changes 
   - Simple file format like markdown 
   - Option to export data out as a backup  (it's just markdown files, you don't even need to export, just copy them. Or export to PDF)
   - Allow uploading arbitrary files like PDFs, images, receipts etc...  (https://obsidian.md/help/file-formats)
   - Nice to have: support for inline tables of data with simple calculations/sorting

sandreas 10 days ago |

There are a few lesser known projects, I used.

Trillium - https://triliumnotes.org/

Joplin - https://joplinapp.org

I personally use Flatnotes - https://github.com/Dullage/flatnotes with a connected git repository, but this does not meet your requirements.

scorpioxy 10 days ago |

I don't have the same requirements and when I really thought about it, it turns out I need very few things and can get by without the other requirements.

So for many years it's been orgmode in emacs. Not exactly a wiki, but you can treat it as such. As they are "just text files", you can treat them as that and many things become simpler. Difficult to share with non-emacs users is probably the only downside.

jrotllant 9 days ago |

I use EIDARA (https://eidara.dev) – a compiled markdown system I built. It compressed my projects context from ~30K tokens across different .md files to a single ~3.5K file that works across Claude, GPT, and DeepSeek. I am managing 10+ projects without re-pasting anything between sessions.

aborsy 10 days ago |

Bookstack.

It stores pages in a database, but you could export them in markdown. Web interface is mobile friendly, essentially an app.

sgbeal 10 days ago |

The Fossil SCM (<https://fossil-scm.org>) meets most of your requirements, noting that:

- "mobile app" means "its web interface"

- "backed up" means to wherever you upload/sync your backups to

- No automagic table calculation support.

jquintard 7 days ago |

Notion is good at first, but quickly gets out of hand. At least it was my case. You can consider Routine (routine.co). It does everything that you mentioned.

fumplethumb 8 days ago |

https://www.getoutline.com is pretty good!

rebekkamikkoa 10 days ago |

My go‑to for a personal wiki in 2026 is Obsidian.

Also Logseq worth it.

brazukadev 9 days ago |

as it should be, I created my own, markdown-based: https://app.bootstrapp.ai

uberman 10 days ago |

For a personal wiki I would use wikijs

moomoo11 8 days ago |

obsidian and i let codex loose on the directory

it’s in icloud so i can use it anywhere.

eddd-ddde 10 days ago |

Honestly the simplest option is sometimes the answer. Google docs...

It meets all your requirements. Markdown interop is very good. Always backed up and in sync. Supports offline access. Really easy to export everything if you really need to.

dcchambers 10 days ago | |

Google Docs doesn't do classic "wiki" things like bi-directional linking. Search, ironically, is also a bit of a mess.

Google Docs was built as a MS Word competitor and that's what it does best. I love Google Docs and I use it every day, but this is one thing I wouldn't use it for.