head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs fsnotes
Open-Notebook has 39,222 GitHub stars, 4,548 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. fsnotes has 7,497 stars, 578 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 423% (39,222 vs 7,497 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; fsnotes is written in Swift under MIT. Open-Notebook has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, fsnotes 8%. fsnotes 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, notebook, notes-app), 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
| Open-Notebook | fsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.5K | ⑂ 578 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open-Notebook if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fsnotes if
- You want the fsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and fsnotes fits your workflow better
About Open-Notebook
Open Notebook is an open source, privacy focused research notebook that replicates and extends Google’s Notebook LM functionality. It runs locally or self hosted, letting users manage AI powered research workflows without surrendering data to cloud providers. Built with TypeScript, Next.js, React, SurrealDB, and LangChain, it targets researchers, students, and knowledge workers seeking control over their data and tools.
read the full Open-Notebook overview →
About fsnotes
FSNotes is a fast, native Markdown and plain text note taking app for macOS and iOS, written in Swift 5 and released under the MIT licence, built for people who want their notes kept as portable files rather than inside a proprietary database.
read the full fsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open-Notebook or fsnotes more popular?
Open-Notebook has 39,222 GitHub stars and fsnotes has 7,497. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and fsnotes free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and fsnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and fsnotes?
Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript and fsnotes in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Open-Notebook or fsnotes?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (39,222 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose fsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.