head to head · open source
MiaoYan vs GitJournal
MiaoYan has 8,719 GitHub stars, 522 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. GitJournal has 4,245 stars, 318 forks, 132 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. MiaoYan leads on adoption by 105% (8,719 vs 4,245 stars). MiaoYan is written in Swift under MIT; GitJournal is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. MiaoYan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, GitJournal 7%. MiaoYan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (markdown, notes-app), 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
| MiaoYan | GitJournal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.7K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Swift | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-05-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 522 | ⑂ 318 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick MiaoYan if
- You weight community size — 8.7K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick GitJournal if
- You want the GitJournal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and GitJournal fits your workflow better
About MiaoYan
English 简体中文 MiaoYan Lightweight Markdown note taking app for macOS Features Fantastic : Local first, no data collection, split editor & preview, wikilink backlinks, LaTeX, Mermaid Beautiful : Minimalist design, three column layout, dark mode, macOS 26 glass, distraction free Fast : Swift 6 native, better performance than Electron based apps Simple : Lightweight, version history, keyboard shortcuts, auto formatting Installation 1. Mac App Store (paid, automatic updates): 2. Homebrew : 3. GitHub Releases : download the latest DMG from GitHub Releases (macOS 11.5+) All three options share the same codebase and…
read the full MiaoYan overview →
About GitJournal
Mobile first Markdown Notes integrated with Git Summary GitJournal is a note taking app focused on privacy and data portability. It stores all its notes in a standardized Markdown + YAML header format (optional). The notes are stored in a Git Repo of your choice GitHub / Gitlab / Custom provider. This means you can easily self host or host your notes in one of the many Git providers. Screenshots Migrating from Existing Apps Google Keep Day One Classic Narrate Simplenote Contributing Please feel free to open an issue for any bug or feature request. Additionally, you can vote on existing Issues by reacting with a…
read the full GitJournal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is MiaoYan or GitJournal more popular?
MiaoYan has 8,719 GitHub stars and GitJournal has 4,245. MiaoYan has the larger community by that measure.
Are MiaoYan and GitJournal free?
Both are open source. MiaoYan is licensed under MIT and GitJournal under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between MiaoYan and GitJournal?
MiaoYan is written in Swift and GitJournal in Dart. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, MiaoYan or GitJournal?
Choose MiaoYan if you want the larger community (8,719 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose GitJournal if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.