head to head · open source
Joplin vs Justnote
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Justnote has 67 stars, 6 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 84,103% (56,416 vs 67 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Justnote is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Justnote 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 | Justnote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 67 |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 6 |
| 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 Justnote if
- You want the Justnote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Justnote 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 Justnote
Justnote is a GPL 2.0 licensed, privacy focused note taking app with web, Android, and iOS clients written in TypeScript, for anyone who wants to capture notes quickly while keeping real ownership of their account and data.
read the full Justnote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Justnote more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and Justnote has 67. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Justnote free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and Justnote is licensed under GPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Justnote?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Justnote 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 Justnote?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Justnote if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.