head to head · open source
Docs vs nb
Docs has 16,838 GitHub stars, 639 forks, 370 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. nb has 8,405 stars, 254 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped 26 days ago. Docs leads on adoption by 100% (16,838 vs 8,405 stars). Docs is written in Python under MIT; nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0. Docs has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, nb 3%. Docs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (knowledge-base), 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
| Docs | nb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 8.4K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 639 | ⑂ 254 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docs if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nb if
- You want the nb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and nb fits your workflow better
About Docs
Docs is an open source collaborative text editor for creating, editing, and sharing documents in real time. It lives in the open source documentation and knowledge base ecosystem, and it is built with Django and React for web native use. The repository describes Docs as a web native editor made for teams that need clean documents and sub documents without surrendering data to a hosted service.
About nb
nb is a command line and local web note taking, bookmarking, archiving, and knowledge base application distributed as a single portable shell script, aimed at people who want plain text notes, Git backed history, and local search without a hosted service.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docs or nb more popular?
Docs has 16,838 GitHub stars and nb has 8,405. Docs has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docs and nb free?
Both are open source. Docs is licensed under MIT and nb under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docs and nb?
Docs is written in Python and nb in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Docs or nb?
Choose Docs if you want the larger community (16,838 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nb if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.