head to head · open source
Logseq vs marksman
Logseq has 44,984 GitHub stars, 2,816 forks, 942 open issues and last shipped today. marksman has 3,343 stars, 72 forks, 134 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Logseq leads on adoption by 1,246% (44,984 vs 3,343 stars). Logseq is written in Clojure under AGPL-3.0; marksman is written in F# under MIT. Logseq has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, marksman 2%. Logseq 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 | marksman | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | F# |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 72 |
| 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 marksman if
- You want the marksman feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches F#
- You evaluated both and marksman fits your workflow better
About Logseq
Logseq is an open source, privacy first knowledge management platform built for local first workflows. It runs as a desktop application and web interface, storing data locally in Markdown or Org mode files, with optional SQLite backed DB graphs for advanced features. The project lives in the Clojure/ClojureScript ecosystem and is licensed under AGPL 3.0.
read the full Logseq overview →
About marksman
Marksman is an MIT licensed Markdown language server, written in F , that brings code assist features such as completion, go to definition, find references, rename refactoring and diagnostics into any editor that speaks the Language Server Protocol, and it is aimed at writers and note takers who maintain Markdown documents and Zettelkasten style wikilink notes.
read the full marksman overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Logseq or marksman more popular?
Logseq has 44,984 GitHub stars and marksman has 3,343. Logseq has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logseq and marksman free?
Both are open source. Logseq is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and marksman under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Logseq and marksman?
Logseq is written in Clojure and marksman in F#. 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 marksman?
Choose Logseq if you want the larger community (44,984 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose marksman if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.