head to head · open source
Joplin vs Zotero
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zotero has 15,308 stars, 1,120 forks, 1,600 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 269% (56,416 vs 15,308 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Zotero is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Zotero 7%. 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 | Zotero | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 15K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 Zotero if
- You want the Zotero feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Zotero 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 Zotero
Zotero is a free tool for research sources. It lives in the JavaScript application ecosystem and is listed under Productivity & Utilities / Note Taking & Knowledge Management. The provided GitHub metadata reports 15,272 stars, 1,117 forks, 1,600 open issues, 0 contributors, a repository age of 0 years, and a last push timestamp of 2026 09 14T16:40:51Z. The homepage is https://www.zotero.org, and no topics are listed. The license field is NOASSERTION.
read the full Zotero overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Zotero more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and Zotero has 15,308. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Zotero free?
Neither Joplin nor Zotero declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Zotero?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Zotero 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 Zotero?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Zotero if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.