head to head · open source
docsify vs nb
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars, 5,785 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nb has 8,462 stars, 258 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped yesterday. docsify leads on adoption by 273% (31,575 vs 8,462 stars). docsify is written in JavaScript under MIT; nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0. docsify has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, nb 3%. nb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (markdown), 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
| docsify | nb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.8K | ⑂ 258 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick docsify if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- 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 docsify
A magical documentation site generator. Gold Sponsor via Open Collective Docsify turns one or more Markdown files into a Website, with no build process required. Features No statically built HTML files Simple and lightweight Smart full text search plugin Multiple themes Useful plugin API Emoji support Quick Start Get going fast by using a static web server or GitHub Pages with this ready to use Docsify Template, review the quick start tutorial or jump right into a CodeSandbox example site with the button below. Showcase A large collection of showcase projects are included in awesome docsify. Links Documentation…
read the full docsify overview →
About nb
nb is a command line and local web note‑taking, bookmarking, archiving, and knowledge base application with: plain text data storage, encryption, filtering, pinning, tagging, and search, Git backed versioning and syncing, Pandoc backed conversion, [[wiki style linking]] , terminal and GUI web browsing, inline images, todos with tasks, global and local notebooks, organization with folders, customizable color themes, extensibility through plugins, and more, in a single portable script. nb creates notes in text based formats like Markdown, Org, LaTeX, and AsciiDoc, can work with files in any format, can import and…
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Frequently asked questions
Is docsify or nb more popular?
docsify has 31,575 GitHub stars and nb has 8,462. docsify has the larger community by that measure.
Are docsify and nb free?
Both are open source. docsify is licensed under MIT and nb under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between docsify and nb?
docsify is written in JavaScript 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, docsify or nb?
Choose docsify if you want the larger community (31,575 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nb if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.