head to head · open source
Joplin vs SurfSense
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars, 6,391 forks, 658 open issues and last shipped today. SurfSense has 16,717 stars, 1,597 forks, 130 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 241% (56,994 vs 16,717 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; SurfSense is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, SurfSense 10%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Joplin | SurfSense | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 17K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 SurfSense if
- You want the SurfSense feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and SurfSense 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 SurfSense
English Español Português हिन्दी 简体中文 SurfSense: The Open Source NotebookLM Alternative for Open Web Research SurfSense is the open source NotebookLM alternative for AI agents , an open web research platform with live data connectors. Your agents research the live web with structured data from Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, Walmart, Google Maps, Google Search, Indeed, and any page on the open web , through one REST API or MCP server . Scheduled and event triggered agents turn what they find into briefs and alerts, and a built in knowledge base keeps every finding searchable with citations. [!NOTE]…
read the full SurfSense 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 SurfSense more popular?
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars and SurfSense has 16,717. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and SurfSense free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and SurfSense is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and SurfSense?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and SurfSense in Python. 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 SurfSense?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,994 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose SurfSense if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.