head to head · open source
Joplin vs dnote
Joplin has 56,453 GitHub stars, 6,299 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dnote has 3,083 stars, 124 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 1,731% (56,453 vs 3,083 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; dnote is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, dnote 4%. 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 | dnote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-07-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 124 |
| 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 dnote if
- You want the dnote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dnote 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 dnote
Dnote is a free, open source, single binary command line notebook for developers who want their notes kept as plain files they own rather than inside a proprietary hosted service.
read the full dnote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or dnote more popular?
Joplin has 56,453 GitHub stars and dnote has 3,083. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and dnote free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and dnote is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and dnote?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and dnote in Go. 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 dnote?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,453 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose dnote if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.