head to head · open source
Joplin vs reflect-open
Joplin has 57,184 GitHub stars, 6,444 forks, 672 open issues and last shipped today. reflect-open has 1,622 stars, 143 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 3,426% (57,184 vs 1,622 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; reflect-open is written in TypeScript under MIT. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, reflect-open 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 | reflect-open | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-15 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 143 |
| 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 reflect-open if
- You want the reflect-open feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and reflect-open 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 reflect-open
Reflect Plain file notes for Mac and iPhone: daily notes, wiki links, local search, and optional AI over your own Markdown. Reflect is an open source note taking app built around a folder of Markdown files. It opens to today's note, lets [[wiki links]] connect people, projects, and ideas, and keeps search and backlinks fast without turning your notes into an app only database. The app does not require a Reflect account. Notes live in a folder you choose, and optional services such as AI providers, transcription, iCloud, GitHub, or another git remote are connected directly by the user. Features Daily notes: the…
read the full reflect-open overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or reflect-open more popular?
Joplin has 57,184 GitHub stars and reflect-open has 1,622. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and reflect-open free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and reflect-open is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and reflect-open?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and reflect-open 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 reflect-open?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (57,184 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose reflect-open if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.