head to head · open source
mkdocs-material vs flatnotes
mkdocs-material has 27,466 GitHub stars, 4,148 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. flatnotes has 3,223 stars, 214 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. mkdocs-material leads on adoption by 752% (27,466 vs 3,223 stars). mkdocs-material is written in Python under MIT; flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT. mkdocs-material has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, flatnotes 7%. mkdocs-material 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.
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Side by side
| mkdocs-material | flatnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 3.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 214 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs-material if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- 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 mkdocs-material
Material for MkDocs is a documentation framework built on top of MkDocs, the static site generator for project documentation. It lives in the Python ecosystem and is distributed as a theme plus an accompanying set of plugins, so authors write documentation in Markdown and MkDocs builds it into a static site that the theme renders. The project is licensed under MIT, has existed for eleven years, and is maintained as an open source project with more than 27,000 stars and over 4,000 forks on GitHub.
read the full mkdocs-material 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 mkdocs-material or flatnotes more popular?
mkdocs-material has 27,466 GitHub stars and flatnotes has 3,223. mkdocs-material has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs-material and flatnotes free?
Both are open source. mkdocs-material is licensed under MIT and flatnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs-material and flatnotes?
mkdocs-material is written in Python 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, mkdocs-material or flatnotes?
Choose mkdocs-material if you want the larger community (27,466 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose flatnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.