head to head · open source
Joplin vs itsnotes
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. itsnotes has 32 stars, 3 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 176,200% (56,416 vs 32 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; itsnotes is written in JavaScript under MIT. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, itsnotes 9%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (note-taking, obsidian), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Joplin | itsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 32 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 3 |
| 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 itsnotes if
- You want the itsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and itsnotes 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 itsnotes
itsnotes is a self hosted, MIT licensed Google Keep replacement — built with React, Node.js, PostgreSQL and Socket.io — for people who like the sticky note masonry layout but need better navigation and organization, and who want their notes to stay on their own hardware.
read the full itsnotes overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or itsnotes more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and itsnotes has 32. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and itsnotes free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and itsnotes is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and itsnotes?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and itsnotes in JavaScript. 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 itsnotes?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose itsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.