head to head · open source
Joplin vs QOwnNotes
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars, 6,390 forks, 652 open issues and last shipped yesterday. QOwnNotes has 5,939 stars, 498 forks, 63 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 860% (56,994 vs 5,939 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; QOwnNotes is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, QOwnNotes 8%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (dropbox, nextcloud, 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Joplin | QOwnNotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 498 |
| 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 QOwnNotes if
- You want the QOwnNotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and QOwnNotes 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 QOwnNotes
QOwnNotes Installation Changelog Issues Shortcuts Documentation Privacy Policy Screenshots Nextcloud API App ownCloud API App Matrix room Telegram Group IRC Chat Mastodon QOwnNotes Web Companion Firefox extension QOwnNotes Web Companion Chrome extension QOwnNotes Web App QOwnNotes Tor Hidden Service QOwnNotes is the open source notepad with Markdown support and todo list manager for GNU/Linux , macOS and Windows , that works together with Nextcloud Notes and ownCloud Notes . You are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device , like with QOwnNotes…
read the full QOwnNotes overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or QOwnNotes more popular?
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars and QOwnNotes has 5,939. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and QOwnNotes free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and QOwnNotes is licensed under GPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and QOwnNotes?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and QOwnNotes 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 QOwnNotes?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,994 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose QOwnNotes if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.