head to head · open source
Joplin vs Textus
Joplin has 56,980 GitHub stars, 6,384 forks, 652 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Textus has 567 stars, 30 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 9,949% (56,980 vs 567 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Textus is written in TypeScript under MIT. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Textus 5%. Textus 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 | Textus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 57K | ★ 567 |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.4K | ⑂ 30 |
| 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 Textus if
- You want the Textus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Textus 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 Textus
Textus The next generation Markdown editor. You hold the pen. AI keeps your ink flowing. Website · Download English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Deutsch · Русский · Português Watch on YouTube · Bilibili Hamlet , William Shakespeare Get Textus Free and open source, under the MIT license. iOS and iPadOS are coming soon. Beta: in Settings › General › About Textus , set Update channel to Beta . Writing What you see is what you get, laid out with Markdown as you type. Export to PDF, Word, HTML and more. Textus AI Works with online and local LLMs alike AI that speeds your writing along. Plugins (in…
read the full Textus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Textus more popular?
Joplin has 56,980 GitHub stars and Textus has 567. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Textus free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and Textus is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Textus?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Textus 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 Textus?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,980 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Textus if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.