head to head · open source
flatnotes vs wandao
flatnotes has 3,223 GitHub stars, 214 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 22 days ago. wandao has 1,160 stars, 136 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flatnotes leads on adoption by 178% (3,223 vs 1,160 stars). flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT; wandao is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. flatnotes has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, wandao 12%. wandao was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (markdown, 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 | wandao | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.2K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Vue | Python |
| Last push | 2026-08-29 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 214 | ⑂ 136 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick flatnotes if
- You weight community size — 3.2K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick wandao if
- You want the wandao feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and wandao fits your workflow better
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 →
About wandao
Wandao (万能导) is a multi platform knowledge base Markdown import and export tool that turns content you have permission to access into local Markdown and pushes local Markdown back into supported platforms, built for people who need to back up, migrate, or study documentation without manual copying and pasting.
read the full wandao overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is flatnotes or wandao more popular?
flatnotes has 3,223 GitHub stars and wandao has 1,160. flatnotes has the larger community by that measure.
Are flatnotes and wandao free?
Both are open source. flatnotes is licensed under MIT and wandao under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between flatnotes and wandao?
flatnotes is written in Vue and wandao in Python. 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 wandao?
Choose flatnotes if you want the larger community (3,223 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose wandao if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.