head to head · open source
flatnotes vs edgeever
flatnotes has 3,272 GitHub stars, 222 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. edgeever has 3,083 stars, 1,566 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flatnotes leads on adoption by 6% (3,272 vs 3,083 stars). flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT; edgeever is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. flatnotes has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, edgeever 51%. edgeever was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (note-taking), 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
| flatnotes | edgeever | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.3K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Vue | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-29 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 222 | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick flatnotes if
- You weight community size — 3.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick edgeever if
- You want the edgeever feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and edgeever fits your workflow better
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 →
About edgeever
EdgeEver 简体中文 繁體中文 English 日本語 EdgeEver: An open source, AI native knowledge base & portable Evernote alternative. EdgeEver is a modern, open source notes and knowledge base workspace. It revives the beloved Evernote style three pane layout while offering an open data architecture and seamless AI Agent integration for complete ownership and smart productivity. 💡 Serverless & 100% Free Forever EdgeEver can run within Cloudflare's free quotas with no server purchase or VPS maintenance. Users who prefer a VPS, NAS, or home server can deploy the same application with Docker. ⭐ If EdgeEver is useful to you, consider…
read the full edgeever overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is flatnotes or edgeever more popular?
flatnotes has 3,272 GitHub stars and edgeever has 3,083. flatnotes has the larger community by that measure.
Are flatnotes and edgeever free?
Both are open source. flatnotes is licensed under MIT and edgeever under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between flatnotes and edgeever?
flatnotes is written in Vue and edgeever in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, flatnotes or edgeever?
Choose flatnotes if you want the larger community (3,272 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose edgeever if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.