head to head · open source
Joplin vs MoeMemos
Joplin has 56,478 GitHub stars, 6,303 forks, 646 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. MoeMemos has 885 stars, 78 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 6,282% (56,478 vs 885 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; MoeMemos is written in Swift under MPL-2.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, MoeMemos 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 | MoeMemos | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 885 |
| License | Custom / other | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 78 |
| 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 MoeMemos if
- You want the MoeMemos feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and MoeMemos 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 MoeMemos
Moe Memos is a free, open source iOS and iPad app, written in Swift and licensed under MPL 2.0, that helps people capture thoughts and ideas either against a self hosted memos server or with local on device storage and no server at all.
read the full MoeMemos overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or MoeMemos more popular?
Joplin has 56,478 GitHub stars and MoeMemos has 885. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and MoeMemos free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and MoeMemos is licensed under MPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and MoeMemos?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and MoeMemos 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 MoeMemos?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,478 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose MoeMemos if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.