SilverBullet
Ranked 11 of 18 note-taking apps by recommenders
Self-hosted, hackable note app where you can embed queries and scripts in pages; community and developer are responsive. Caveat: app loading and mobile version feel rough.
9 people recommended SilverBullet in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 13 comments.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- mixed feelings
- 3
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 5 of 12 months
In 5 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 5 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 22% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 13 of the 14 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Embeds queries and scripts in pages
“It's self-hostable and really hackable (plugins, dynamic categorization via embedding custom queries, etc.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Logseq 2.0 Beta (DB version) is here” “very powerful ability to embed little queries and scripts directly in a page”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Markdown Database Pattern” Responsive, active community and developer
“Loving it. Both the community and author are very helpful and responsive to questions.”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Silverbullet: Personal productivity platform built with Markdown and Lua” “And the Dev has been awesome. Very active project.”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “Show HN: Files.md – open-source alternative to Obsidian” Clean, simple, customizable note app
“a simple, customizable note taking app”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Silverbullet: Personal productivity platform built with Markdown and Lua” “seems really clean and nice”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Tailscale'd into Homelabbing” Self-hostable and hackable
“the benefits of being able to host my notes on my Tailscale network are huge”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “Markdown Database Pattern”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow or buggy app loading
“doesn't break user expectations on load, like maybe a sync button or something that doesn't feel like a buggy frontend”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Silverbullet: Personal productivity platform built with Markdown and Lua” “how the app loads is a major issue.”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Silverbullet: Personal productivity platform built with Markdown and Lua”
Other note-taking apps people recommend
The four most recommended other note-taking apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obsidian | 306 | 104 | 114 | 73% | 12 | 1 yr13 people | Approved |
| Org mode | 133 | 30 | 29 | 82% | 12 | 7 yrs12 people | Approved |
| Notion | 43 | 37 | 96 | 31% | 11 | — | — |
| Logseq | 30 | 19 | 23 | 57% | 10 | — | — |
| SilverBulletThis page | 9 | 3 | 1 | 90% | 5 | — | — |
Also compared with Apple Notes, Joplin, Google Keep and Microsoft OneNote.
What people said
13 of the 14 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the benefits of being able to host my notes on my Tailscale network are huge”
“very powerful ability to embed little queries and scripts directly in a page”
“It's self-hostable and really hackable (plugins, dynamic categorization via embedding custom queries, etc.”
“And the Dev has been awesome. Very active project.”
“It checks a lot of boxes for me”
“I still run an instance because it's handy for quick notes”
“seems really clean and nice”
“The vim mode on the desktop version makes the mobile version feel 'gutted”
“Loving it. Both the community and author are very helpful and responsive to questions.”
“doesn't break user expectations on load, like maybe a sync button or something that doesn't feel like a buggy frontend”
“I somehow managed to erase all the notes and the site broke”
“how the app loads is a major issue.”
“a simple, customizable note taking app”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.