head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs iwe
Open-Notebook has 39,398 GitHub stars, 4,558 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. iwe has 1,715 stars, 88 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 2,197% (39,398 vs 1,715 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; iwe is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Open-Notebook has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, iwe 5%. Open-Notebook 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
| Open-Notebook | iwe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 88 |
| 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 iwe if
- You want the iwe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and iwe 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 iwe
IWE is a local first Rust tool that turns a directory of Markdown files into a knowledge graph, serving the same notes to your editor through a language server and to AI agents through a CLI and MCP server — it is built for anyone who wants database style queries over plain notes they continue to own.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open-Notebook or iwe more popular?
Open-Notebook has 39,398 GitHub stars and iwe has 1,715. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and iwe free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and iwe under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and iwe?
Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript and iwe in Rust. 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 iwe?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (39,398 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose iwe if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.