head to head · open source
Joplin vs Blinko
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars, 6,390 forks, 652 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Blinko has 11,153 stars, 791 forks, 418 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 411% (56,994 vs 11,153 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Blinko is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Blinko 7%. Joplin 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
| Joplin | Blinko | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 11K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 791 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Joplin if
- You weight community size — 57K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Blinko if
- You want the Blinko feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Blinko fits your workflow better
About Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, can be copied, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor. The notes are in Markdown format. Notes exported from Evernote can be imported into Joplin, including the formatted content (which is converted to Markdown), resources (images, attachments, etc.) and complete metadata (geolocation, updated time, created time, etc.). Plain Markdown files can also be imported. Joplin is "offline first", which means you…
read the full Joplin overview →
About Blinko
Blinko Live Demo • Official Site • Documents • Telegram Chinese • Telegram English • 中文 Live Demo: username:blinko password:blinko Blinko is an AI powered card note taking project. Designed for individuals who want to quickly capture and organize their fleeting thoughts. Blinko allows users to seamlessly jot down ideas the moment they strike, ensuring that no spark of creativity is lost. 🚀Main Features 🤖 AI Enhanced Note Retrieval ：With Blinko's advanced AI powered RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation), you can quickly search and access your notes using natural language queries, making it effortless to find…
read the full Blinko overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Blinko more popular?
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars and Blinko has 11,153. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Blinko free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and Blinko is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Blinko?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Blinko in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Joplin or Blinko?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,994 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Blinko if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.