head to head · open source

Docmost vs vnote

Docmost has 21,735 GitHub stars, 1,566 forks, 326 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vnote has 12,964 stars, 1,298 forks, 270 open issues and last shipped today. Docmost leads on adoption by 68% (21,735 vs 12,964 stars). Docmost is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; vnote is written in C++ under LGPL-3.0. Docmost has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, vnote 10%. vnote 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.

Docmost ★ 22K vnote ★ 13K category Productivity & Utilities

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Side by side

Docmost vnote
GitHub stars ★ 22K ★ 13K
License AGPL-3.0 LGPL-3.0
Written in TypeScript C++
Last push 2026-09-19 2026-09-20
Forks ⑂ 1.6K ⑂ 1.3K
Self-hosting Yes Yes
Data ownership Your server Your server

pick Docmost if

  • You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
  • You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
  • Your stack matches TypeScript
  • You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance

full Docmost profile →

pick vnote if

  • You want the vnote feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
  • Your stack matches C++
  • You evaluated both and vnote fits your workflow better

full vnote profile →

About Docmost

Docmost is an open source collaborative wiki and documentation software written in TypeScript and licensed under the AGPL 3.0 license. It positions itself as an open alternative to Atlassian Confluence and Notion, and its tagline describes it as a self hosted wiki with AI, compliance, and real time editing. The project lives in the knowledge management and note taking ecosystem, where teams manage documentation and knowledge base content.

read the full Docmost overview →

About vnote

VNote is a Qt based, free and open source note taking application written in native C++, focused on Markdown and aimed at anyone who wants structured note management and a strong editing experience instead of a bare Markdown text editor.

read the full vnote overview →

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Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.

Docmost vs AppFlowy Docmost vs Memos Docmost vs Joplin Docmost vs SiYuan Docmost vs Logseq Docmost vs Outline Docmost vs Open-Notebook Docmost vs Khoj Docmost vs Tolaria Docmost vs SurfSense Docmost vs Zotero Docmost vs Notesnook

Frequently asked questions

Is Docmost or vnote more popular?

Docmost has 21,735 GitHub stars and vnote has 12,964. Docmost has the larger community by that measure.

Are Docmost and vnote free?

Both are open source. Docmost is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and vnote under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between Docmost and vnote?

Docmost is written in TypeScript and vnote in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.

Which should I choose, Docmost or vnote?

Choose Docmost if you want the larger community (21,735 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vnote if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.