head to head · open source
Joplin vs Butterfly
Joplin has 56,442 GitHub stars, 6,298 forks, 637 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Butterfly has 2,024 stars, 151 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 2,689% (56,442 vs 2,024 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Butterfly is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Butterfly 7%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (android, 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
| Joplin | Butterfly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 151 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Joplin if
- You weight community size — 56K 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 Butterfly if
- You want the Butterfly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Butterfly fits your workflow better
About Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source, privacy focused note taking and to do application that keeps notes as Markdown on your own device and synchronises them, end to end encrypted, across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
read the full Joplin overview →
About Butterfly
Butterfly is a free, open source, cross platform note taking and drawing application built with Flutter and Dart, made for people who think visually and want an endless workspace for handwritten, typed, and imported content on desktop and Android.
read the full Butterfly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Butterfly more popular?
Joplin has 56,442 GitHub stars and Butterfly has 2,024. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Butterfly free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and Butterfly is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Butterfly?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Butterfly in Dart. 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 Butterfly?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,442 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Butterfly if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.