head to head · open source
BookStack vs flatnotes
BookStack has 19,123 GitHub stars, 2,435 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flatnotes has 3,274 stars, 222 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. BookStack leads on adoption by 484% (19,123 vs 3,274 stars). BookStack is written in PHP under MIT; flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT. BookStack has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, flatnotes 7%. BookStack was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (wiki), 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
| BookStack | flatnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 222 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick BookStack if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick flatnotes if
- You want the flatnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and flatnotes fits your workflow better
About BookStack
BookStack A platform for storing and organising information and documentation. Details for BookStack can be found on the official website at Installation Instructions Documentation Demo Instance Screenshots BookStack Blog Issue List Community Discussions Support Options 📚 Project Definition BookStack is an opinionated documentation platform that provides a pleasant and simple out of the box experience. New users to an instance should find the experience intuitive and only basic word processing skills should be required to get involved in creating content on BookStack. The platform should provide advanced power…
read the full BookStack overview →
About flatnotes
A self hosted, database less note taking web app that utilises a flat folder of markdown files for storage. Log into the demo site and take a look around. Note: This site resets every 15 minutes. Contents Design Principle Features Getting Started Hosted Self Hosted Roadmap Contributing Sponsorship Thanks Design Principle flatnotes is designed to be a distraction free note taking app that puts your note content first. This means: A clean and simple user interface. No folders, notebooks or anything like that. Just all of your notes, backed by powerful search and tagging functionality. Quick access to a full text…
read the full flatnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is BookStack or flatnotes more popular?
BookStack has 19,123 GitHub stars and flatnotes has 3,274. BookStack has the larger community by that measure.
Are BookStack and flatnotes free?
Both are open source. BookStack is licensed under MIT and flatnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between BookStack and flatnotes?
BookStack is written in PHP and flatnotes in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, BookStack or flatnotes?
Choose BookStack if you want the larger community (19,123 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose flatnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.