← Back to home
Comparison · Collab

Hive vs Trilium Notes

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Hive and Trilium Notes — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Hive vs Trilium Notes: at a glance

FeatureHiveTrilium Notes
SectorCollab, PMCollab
Velocity score10.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesproject-management, time-tracking, permissions, audit-trailnote-taking, fork, code-signing, mfa
Last editorial update12h ago19d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Hive?

Hive ships in batches, and this one is all planning accuracy and admin control.

Hive publishes its changelog as clusters of single-feature entries dated the same day — seven on August 18, three on August 14. The current batch splits between planning integrity (time estimates surviving assignee changes, a rebuilt Unsubmitted Timesheets view, reorderable Gantt columns), governance (a default restricted-member role applied across every onboarding path, custom-field edits appearing in activity feeds), and small chat conveniences. Nothing in the batch is a new product area; it is the existing surface being tightened.

Read the full Hive trajectory →

What is Trilium Notes?

The TriliumNext fork spent its early betas making the app trustworthy to install

Three beta releases from early 2025. The work is dominated by distribution and access concerns: signed Windows binaries obtained through a donated EV certificate, signed macOS builds, multi-factor authentication that required a database version bump, basic right-to-left content support, and repaired migration paths from the original Trilium. Nothing has been published to this feed since March 2025.

Read the full Trilium Notes trajectory →

Hive vs Trilium Notes: editorial side-by-side

Hive logo
Hive
COLLABPM
10.0

Hive ships in batches, and this one is all planning accuracy and admin control.

◆ Current state

Hive publishes its changelog as clusters of single-feature entries dated the same day — seven on August 18, three on August 14. The current batch splits between planning integrity (time estimates surviving assignee changes, a rebuilt Unsubmitted Timesheets view, reorderable Gantt columns), governance (a default restricted-member role applied across every onboarding path, custom-field edits appearing in activity feeds), and small chat conveniences. Nothing in the batch is a new product area; it is the existing surface being tightened.

◆ Where it's heading

Two themes have been running through recent batches. The first is making planned time trustworthy — estimates that no longer vanish when work is reassigned, timesheet views built for scanning who has not submitted. The second is administrative control that scales: a least-privilege default that holds across SAML, SCIM, invite links and domain auto-join, and an audit trail that now covers custom-field edits. Both point at larger deployments, where the failure modes are silent data loss and inconsistent permissions rather than missing features.

◆ Prediction

The audit-trail and permissions work looks incomplete rather than finished — activity coverage for other object types and per-field visibility rules are the obvious next steps. Expect the same batched cadence, roughly twice a month.

T0.0

The TriliumNext fork spent its early betas making the app trustworthy to install

◆ Current state

Three beta releases from early 2025. The work is dominated by distribution and access concerns: signed Windows binaries obtained through a donated EV certificate, signed macOS builds, multi-factor authentication that required a database version bump, basic right-to-left content support, and repaired migration paths from the original Trilium. Nothing has been published to this feed since March 2025.

◆ Where it's heading

These are the problems a fork inherits rather than chooses. Before adding features, the project had to make installs pass platform trust checks, let users migrate off the predecessor without an intermediate upgrade, and add authentication a self-hosted note store is expected to have. It is groundwork, done in the open, with contributors credited by name.

◆ Prediction

There is not enough recent activity to predict the next release. The feed has been silent for over a year, so whether the beta line continued elsewhere is the open question.

Alternatives to Hive and Trilium Notes

Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Hive or Trilium Notes.

See all Hive alternatives → · See all Trilium Notes alternatives →

Recent activity from Hive and Trilium Notes

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoHiveDefault new members to a restricted role across every join path
  2. 1d agoHiveDashboard links unfurl as cards in chat
  3. 1d agoHiveGantt columns can be reordered and the order sticks
  4. 1d agoHiveChat statuses can expire automatically
  5. 1d agoHiveTime estimates survive an assignee change
  6. 1d agoHiveCustom-field edits now appear in activity feeds
  7. 1y agoTrilium NotesMulti-factor authentication and signed Windows binaries
  8. 1y agoTrilium NotesSigned macOS builds and right-to-left content support
  9. 1y agoTrilium NotesFixes missing Windows ZIP artifacts

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Hive and Trilium Notes?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Hive is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 10.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Hive better than Trilium Notes?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Hive is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 10.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Hive?

Top Hive alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Hive alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hive for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Trilium Notes?

Top Trilium Notes alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Trilium Notes alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/trilium-next for the full list with editorial commentary on each.