head to head · open source
Joplin vs fsnotes
Joplin has 56,429 GitHub stars, 6,297 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. fsnotes has 7,494 stars, 578 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 653% (56,429 vs 7,494 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; fsnotes is written in Swift under MIT. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, fsnotes 8%. fsnotes 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 | fsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 578 |
| 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 fsnotes if
- You want the fsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and fsnotes 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 fsnotes
FSNotes is a fast, native Markdown and plain text note taking app for macOS and iOS, written in Swift 5 and released under the MIT licence, built for people who want their notes kept as portable files rather than inside a proprietary database.
read the full fsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or fsnotes more popular?
Joplin has 56,429 GitHub stars and fsnotes has 7,494. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and fsnotes free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and fsnotes is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and fsnotes?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and fsnotes in Swift. 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 fsnotes?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,429 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose fsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.