# Zim Desktop Wiki

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Zim Desktop Wiki and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free desktop wiki that people use for years of notes and snippets, often as a daily driver; a critic finds it weak on macOS.

## Why people recommend it

- Daily driver for most tasks (2 comments): "As my main driver for most everything in my life" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46767674)) "my daily driver for most things in my life" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46239365))
- Early Obsidian-like wiki (2 comments): "it was basically Obsidian but 15-20 years early" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47491801)) "probably the best proto-Obsidian" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49151555))
- Long use and easy recall of notes (2 comments): "have been using https://zim-wiki.org for about a decade longer, so my muscle memory is there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47057253)) "super handy to be able to go looking for my thoughts or snippets from 6 months ago" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46984960))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Confluence](https://hackerapproved.com/p/confluence.md): 38 recommend
- [TiddlyWiki](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tiddlywiki.md): 19 recommend
- [MediaWiki](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mediawiki.md): 15 recommend
- [Outline](https://hackerapproved.com/p/outline.md): 10 recommend
- [OzBrain](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ozbrain.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Zim Desktop Wiki", https://hackerapproved.com/p/zim-desktop-wiki/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).