head to head · open source
devdocs vs flatnotes
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars, 2,656 forks, 196 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flatnotes has 3,272 stars, 222 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. devdocs leads on adoption by 1,110% (39,596 vs 3,272 stars). devdocs is written in Ruby under MPL-2.0; flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT. devdocs has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, flatnotes 7%. devdocs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| devdocs | flatnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Ruby | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 222 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick devdocs if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- 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 devdocs
DevDocs — API Documentation Browser DevDocs combines multiple developer documentations in a clean and organized web UI with instant search, offline support, mobile version, dark theme, keyboard shortcuts, and more. DevDocs was created by Thibaut Courouble and is operated by freeCodeCamp. We are currently searching for maintainers Please reach out to the community on Discord if you would like to join the team! Keep track of development news: Join the contributors chat room on Discord Watch the repository on GitHub Table of Contents: Quick Start · Vision · App · Scraper · Commands · Contributing · Documentation ·…
read the full devdocs 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 devdocs or flatnotes more popular?
devdocs has 39,596 GitHub stars and flatnotes has 3,272. devdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are devdocs and flatnotes free?
Both are open source. devdocs is licensed under MPL-2.0 and flatnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between devdocs and flatnotes?
devdocs is written in Ruby 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, devdocs or flatnotes?
Choose devdocs if you want the larger community (39,596 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose flatnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.