head to head · open source
Joplin vs XWiki
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. XWiki has 1,311 stars, 663 forks, 218 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 4,203% (56,416 vs 1,311 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; XWiki is written in Java under LGPL-2.1. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, XWiki 51%. XWiki 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.
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Side by side
| Joplin | XWiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Custom / other | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 663 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Joplin if
- You weight community size — 56K 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 XWiki if
- You want the XWiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and XWiki fits your workflow better
About Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source, privacy focused note taking and to do application that keeps notes as Markdown on your own device and synchronises them, end to end encrypted, across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
read the full Joplin overview →
About XWiki
XWiki is an open source knowledge management and collaboration platform written in Java and licensed under LGPL 2.1. It is described as a generic wiki platform, and it lives in the Productivity & Utilities / Note Taking & Knowledge Management category. The project is part of the XWiki.org software forge, where XWiki Commons, XWiki Rendering, and XWiki Platform are released together and share the same version.
read the full XWiki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or XWiki more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and XWiki has 1,311. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and XWiki free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and XWiki is licensed under LGPL-2.1. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and XWiki?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and XWiki in Java. 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 XWiki?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose XWiki if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.