head to head · open source
Joplin vs tagspaces
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars, 6,391 forks, 658 open issues and last shipped today. tagspaces has 5,358 stars, 511 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 964% (56,994 vs 5,358 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; tagspaces is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, tagspaces 10%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (electron, javascript, 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 | tagspaces | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 511 |
| 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 tagspaces if
- You want the tagspaces feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and tagspaces 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 tagspaces
TagSpaces TagSpaces is a free and open source platform for organizing, tagging, and managing your local files. It runs completely offline, with no need for cloud services, internet connection, or vendor lock in. Available for Windows , Linux , and macOS , it also includes a browser extension (Web Clipper) for Firefox, Edge, and Chrome to capture online content as local files. 🌐 Learn More 🌍 Website 📰 Blog 📚 Documentation 💬 Community Forum 🐛 GitHub Issues 📦 Downloads Grab the latest release from the GitHub Releases Page. Check out the full changelog for recent updates. 🚀 Features at a Glance File & Folder…
read the full tagspaces 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 tagspaces more popular?
Joplin has 56,994 GitHub stars and tagspaces has 5,358. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and tagspaces free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and tagspaces is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and tagspaces?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and tagspaces 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 tagspaces?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,994 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose tagspaces if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.