head to head · open source
BookStack vs flatnotes
BookStack has 19,050 GitHub stars, 2,422 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped today. flatnotes has 3,223 stars, 214 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. BookStack leads on adoption by 491% (19,050 vs 3,223 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 | ★ 3.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | PHP | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 214 |
| 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 is a self hosted documentation platform written in PHP on top of the Laravel framework, released under the MIT license. It is described by its maintainers as an opinionated platform for storing and organising information and documentation, and it is distributed as an open source project whose development is now managed on Codeberg. The project has existed for roughly eleven years and carries a substantial community footprint, with more than nineteen thousand stars and over two thousand forks recorded against its repository history.
read the full BookStack overview →
About flatnotes
flatnotes is a self hosted, database less note taking web app that keeps every note as a Markdown file in a flat folder, built for individuals and small teams who want a browser based editor without handing ownership of their notes to a hosted service.
read the full flatnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is BookStack or flatnotes more popular?
BookStack has 19,050 GitHub stars and flatnotes has 3,223. 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 (19,050 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose flatnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.