head to head · open source
Joplin vs Outline
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars, 6,390 forks, 652 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Outline has 41,145 stars, 3,650 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 39% (56,994 vs 41,145 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Outline is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Outline 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 (javascript, nodejs), 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 | Outline | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 41K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 3.6K |
| 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 Outline if
- You want the Outline feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Outline 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 Outline
A fast, collaborative, knowledge base for your team built using React and Node.js. Try out Outline using our hosted version at www.getoutline.com . This is the source code that runs Outline and all the associated services. If you want to use Outline then you don't need to run this code, A hosted version of the app is offered at getoutline.com. You can also find documentation on using Outline in our guide. If you'd like to run your own copy of Outline or contribute to development then this is the place for you. Installation Please see the documentation for running your own copy of Outline in a production…
read the full Outline overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Outline more popular?
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars and Outline has 41,145. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Outline free?
Neither Joplin nor Outline 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 Outline?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Outline 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 Outline?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,994 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Outline if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.