head to head · open source
Backlog.md vs lotti
Backlog.md has 7,273 GitHub stars, 480 forks, 55 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. lotti has 1,203 stars, 120 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Backlog.md leads on adoption by 505% (7,273 vs 1,203 stars). Backlog.md is written in TypeScript under MIT; lotti is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. Backlog.md has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, lotti 10%. lotti was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (agentic-ai), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Backlog.md | lotti | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.3K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 480 | ⑂ 120 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Backlog.md if
- You weight community size — 7.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lotti if
- You want the lotti feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and lotti fits your workflow better
About Backlog.md
Backlog.md Markdown‑native Task Manager & Kanban visualizer for any Git repository AI agents write the code. You review the tasks: before, during, and after. npm i g backlog.md Backlog.md turns any folder into a self‑contained project board powered by plain Markdown files and a zero‑config CLI. Why Backlog.md in the AI era AI agents can now produce more plausible code in an hour than you can carefully read in a day. The bottleneck is no longer writing code. It's your attention. You can't meaningfully review 15,000 generated lines in one sitting, but you can read a screenful of task specs with acceptance criteria…
read the full Backlog.md overview →
About lotti
Lotti Discord for support A private logbook for the work you actually did. Lotti records what you meant to do and what actually happened, and keeps them as separate facts. Tasks, planned blocks, tracked time, voice notes, journal entries, habits, and health data live in a local database on your own devices, looked after by a staff of personal AI assistants: persistent agents that read what you record, keep the mess summarised, and propose the next step — while proposed changes wait for your approval. No server ever holds your data in readable form; sync is end to end encrypted, and the relay between your devices…
read the full lotti overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Backlog.md or lotti more popular?
Backlog.md has 7,273 GitHub stars and lotti has 1,203. Backlog.md has the larger community by that measure.
Are Backlog.md and lotti free?
Both are open source. Backlog.md is licensed under MIT and lotti under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Backlog.md and lotti?
Backlog.md is written in TypeScript and lotti in Dart. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Backlog.md or lotti?
Choose Backlog.md if you want the larger community (7,273 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lotti if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.