head to head · open source
Logseq vs fsnotes
Logseq has 45,460 GitHub stars, 2,866 forks, 942 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. fsnotes has 7,560 stars, 588 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Logseq leads on adoption by 501% (45,460 vs 7,560 stars). Logseq is written in Clojure under AGPL-3.0; fsnotes is written in Swift under MIT. Logseq has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, fsnotes 8%. fsnotes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (markdown, 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
| Logseq | fsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 588 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Logseq if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fsnotes if
- You want the fsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and fsnotes fits your workflow better
About Logseq
Logseq A privacy first, open source platform for knowledge management and collaboration Home Page Blog Documentation Roadmap Table of Contents 🚀 Database Version 🤔 Why Logseq? 👀 How can I use it? 📚 Learn more 🫶 Support Logseq Development 💡 Feature requests 🔌 Plugin API 🌟 Contributing to Logseq 🛠️ Setting Up a Development Environment ✨ Inspiration 🙏 Thank You 🚀 Database Version The Database version (DB version) of Logseq introduces DB graphs. See this page to get an overview of the main features for DB graphs. If you are an existing user, see changes with the DB version. The DB version has its own new…
read the full Logseq overview →
About fsnotes
FSNotes 简体中文 · 繁體中文 Own your notes. Find them instantly. FSNotes is a fast, native notes app for macOS and iOS. It gives you a focused writing experience while keeping every note in portable Markdown or plain text files—not a proprietary database. Why choose FSNotes No lock in. Open and edit your notes with any compatible app, now or years from now. Fast at any scale. Search and navigate smoothly across collections of 10,000+ notes. Built around your workflow. Use multiple folders, external editors, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, and optional Git backups. More than basic Markdown. Connect ideas with tags and [[links]]…
read the full fsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Logseq or fsnotes more popular?
Logseq has 45,460 GitHub stars and fsnotes has 7,560. Logseq has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logseq and fsnotes free?
Both are open source. Logseq is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and fsnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Logseq and fsnotes?
Logseq is written in Clojure and fsnotes in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Logseq or fsnotes?
Choose Logseq if you want the larger community (45,460 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose fsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.