head to head · open source
Joplin vs NotelyVoice
Joplin has 57,065 GitHub stars, 6,397 forks, 658 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NotelyVoice has 819 stars, 79 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 6,868% (57,065 vs 819 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; NotelyVoice is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, NotelyVoice 10%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (android), 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 | NotelyVoice | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 819 |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2026-08-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 79 |
| 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 NotelyVoice if
- You want the NotelyVoice feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and NotelyVoice 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 NotelyVoice
Notely Voice A completely free, modern, cross platform, 100% private AI voice transcription & note taking application with powerful Whisper AI Voice to Text capabilities built with Compose Multiplatform. Perfect for students capturing lectures, professionals documenting meetings, doctors recording patient notes, researchers transcribing interviews, and anyone needing accessible hands free note taking across all their devices. Two versions of NotelyVoice This repository is the open source version, distributed freely on F Droid under GPL 3.0 and actively maintained. A separate, fully rebuilt version with a new…
read the full NotelyVoice overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or NotelyVoice more popular?
Joplin has 57,065 GitHub stars and NotelyVoice has 819. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and NotelyVoice free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and NotelyVoice is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and NotelyVoice?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and NotelyVoice in C++. 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 NotelyVoice?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (57,065 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose NotelyVoice if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.