head to head · open source
Joplin vs DeepNotes
Joplin has 57,075 GitHub stars, 6,404 forks, 661 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DeepNotes has 608 stars, 56 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 9,287% (57,075 vs 608 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; DeepNotes is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, DeepNotes 9%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | DeepNotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 608 |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-08 | 2026-06-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 56 |
| 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 DeepNotes if
- You want the DeepNotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and DeepNotes 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 DeepNotes
DeepNotes Website: DeepNotes is an open source, end to end encrypted infinite canvas tool with deep page nesting and realtime collaboration. Why DeepNotes? Infinite canvases: Free yourself from the big wall of text. Deep page nesting: Explore concepts in all their complexity. End to end encryption: Keep your notes well protected. Realtime collaboration: Create groups to collaborate with your team. Flexible note system: Organize your notes in whatever way you want. Lifelong storage: Never lose your notes ever again. Development (On Windows, use WSL or Git Bash to run the commands above) 1. Run pnpm run dev to…
read the full DeepNotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or DeepNotes more popular?
Joplin has 57,075 GitHub stars and DeepNotes has 608. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and DeepNotes free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and DeepNotes is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and DeepNotes?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and DeepNotes 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 DeepNotes?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (57,075 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose DeepNotes if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.