head to head · open source
Joplin vs Zen
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen has 1,174 stars, 61 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 4,705% (56,416 vs 1,174 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Zen is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Zen 5%. 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.
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Side by side
| Joplin | Zen | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 61 |
| 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 Zen if
- You want the Zen feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Zen 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 Zen
Zen is a self hosted note taking application that ships as a single Go binary or as a Docker Compose stack. Notes are written and stored as standard Markdown, with the content and its metadata kept in a local SQLite database. The project sits in the self hosted productivity and knowledge management ecosystem, alongside other personal note servers, and it presents itself as clean, distraction free, and lightweight by design.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Zen more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and Zen has 1,174. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Zen free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and Zen is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Zen?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Zen in JavaScript. 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 Zen?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Zen if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.