head to head · open source
Logseq vs Lorien
Logseq has 45,460 GitHub stars, 2,866 forks, 942 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Lorien has 6,871 stars, 315 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 1.1 years ago. Logseq leads on adoption by 562% (45,460 vs 6,871 stars). Logseq is written in Clojure under AGPL-3.0; Lorien is written in GDScript under MIT. Logseq has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Lorien 5%. Logseq 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
| Logseq | Lorien | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 6.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | GDScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2025-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 315 |
| 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 Lorien if
- You want the Lorien feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches GDScript
- You evaluated both and Lorien 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 Lorien
Lorien Lorien is an infinite canvas drawing/note taking app that is focused on performance, small savefiles and simplicity . It's not based on bitmap images like Krita, Gimp or Photoshop; it rather saves brush strokes as a collection of points and renders them at runtime (kind of like SVG). It's primarily designed to be used as a digital notebook and as brainstorming tool. While it can totally be used to make small sketches and diagrams, it is not meant to replace traditional art programs that operate on bitmap images. It is entirely written in the Godot Game Engine. For an overview on how to use Lorien have a…
read the full Lorien overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Logseq or Lorien more popular?
Logseq has 45,460 GitHub stars and Lorien has 6,871. Logseq has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logseq and Lorien free?
Both are open source. Logseq is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Lorien under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Logseq and Lorien?
Logseq is written in Clojure and Lorien in GDScript. 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 Lorien?
Choose Logseq if you want the larger community (45,460 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Lorien if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.