head to head · open source
flatnotes vs zk
flatnotes has 3,272 GitHub stars, 222 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. zk has 2,863 stars, 199 forks, 24 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. flatnotes leads on adoption by 14% (3,272 vs 2,863 stars). flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT; zk is written in Go under GPL-3.0. flatnotes has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, zk 7%. zk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (note-taking, notes-app, 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
| flatnotes | zk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.3K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Vue | Go |
| Last push | 2026-08-29 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 222 | ⑂ 199 |
| 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 zk if
- You want the zk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and zk 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 zk
A plain text note taking assistant Description zk is a command line tool helping you to maintain a plain text Zettelkasten or personal wiki. Looking for a quick usage example? Or want to see it in action? Checkout Shivan's video, Note taking System ALL Programmers Should Consider . Join us on Matrix for general, support and development discussion: \ zk org:pub.solar. Highlights Creating notes from templates Advanced search and filtering capabilities including tags, links and mentions Integration with your favorite editors: Any LSP compatible editor zk emacs for Emacs zk nvim for Neovim 0.8+ zk vscode for Visual…
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Frequently asked questions
Is flatnotes or zk more popular?
flatnotes has 3,272 GitHub stars and zk has 2,863. flatnotes has the larger community by that measure.
Are flatnotes and zk free?
Both are open source. flatnotes is licensed under MIT and zk under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between flatnotes and zk?
flatnotes is written in Vue and zk in Go. 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 zk?
Choose flatnotes if you want the larger community (3,272 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose zk if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.