head to head · open source
Logseq vs notes
Logseq has 44,975 GitHub stars, 2,815 forks, 942 open issues and last shipped today. notes has 4,267 stars, 384 forks, 137 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Logseq leads on adoption by 954% (44,975 vs 4,267 stars). Logseq is written in Clojure under AGPL-3.0; notes is written in C++ under MPL-2.0. Logseq has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, notes 9%. Logseq was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (local-first, 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 | notes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Clojure | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-05-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 384 |
| 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 notes if
- You want the notes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and notes 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 notes
Notes is an open source, cross platform note taking application written in C++ with Qt, built for people who want a private, local first place to write Markdown notes on Linux, macOS, or Windows.
read the full notes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Logseq or notes more popular?
Logseq has 44,975 GitHub stars and notes has 4,267. Logseq has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logseq and notes free?
Both are open source. Logseq is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and notes under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Logseq and notes?
Logseq is written in Clojure and notes in C++. 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 notes?
Choose Logseq if you want the larger community (44,975 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose notes if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.