head to head · open source
Joplin vs OpenNotas
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars, 6,390 forks, 652 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenNotas has 179 stars, 19 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 31,740% (56,994 vs 179 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; OpenNotas is written in Vue under a custom or non-standard licence. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, OpenNotas 11%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | OpenNotas | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 179 |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 19 |
| 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 OpenNotas if
- You want the OpenNotas feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and OpenNotas 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 OpenNotas
OpenNotas A Simple, Lightweight, Cross Platform Personal Note Taking Application. Focusing on Security and Completely Free. Features If you're tired of numerous complex note taking apps with too many features that are difficult to use, then try OpenNotas. OpenNotas is an open source note taking application, cross platform based on PWA, focusing on security and device synchronization . Follows the philosophy of "simplicity in usage" , catering to anyone who needs to quickly and reliably jot down their notes in text format. OpenNotas supports Markdown , utilizing open source text editing tools that can easily be…
read the full OpenNotas overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or OpenNotas more popular?
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars and OpenNotas has 179. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and OpenNotas free?
Neither Joplin nor OpenNotas declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and OpenNotas?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and OpenNotas in Vue. 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 OpenNotas?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,994 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose OpenNotas if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.