head to head · open source
Joplin vs dnote
Joplin has 57,041 GitHub stars, 6,395 forks, 661 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dnote has 3,091 stars, 123 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 1,745% (57,041 vs 3,091 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 | ★ 57K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-10-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 123 |
| 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 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 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 dnote
========================= Dnote is a simple command line notebook. Single binary, no dependencies. Since 2017. Your notes are stored in one SQLite file portable, searchable, and completely under your control. Optional sync between devices via a self hosted server with REST API access. Installation Or download binary. Server (Optional) Server is a binary with SQLite embedded. No database setup is required. If using docker, create a compose.yml: Then run: Or see the guide for binary installation. Documentation See the Dnote doc.
read the full dnote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or dnote more popular?
Joplin has 57,041 GitHub stars and dnote has 3,091. 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 (57,041 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.