head to head · open source
mkdocs-material vs poznote
mkdocs-material has 27,466 GitHub stars, 4,148 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. poznote has 852 stars, 35 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. mkdocs-material leads on adoption by 3,124% (27,466 vs 852 stars). mkdocs-material is written in Python under MIT; poznote is written in JavaScript under MIT. mkdocs-material has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, poznote 4%. poznote was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (documentation), 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
| mkdocs-material | poznote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 27K | ★ 852 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.1K | ⑂ 35 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs-material if
- You weight community size — 27K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick poznote if
- You want the poznote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and poznote fits your workflow better
About mkdocs-material
Material for MkDocs is a documentation framework built on top of MkDocs, the static site generator for project documentation. It lives in the Python ecosystem and is distributed as a theme plus an accompanying set of plugins, so authors write documentation in Markdown and MkDocs builds it into a static site that the theme renders. The project is licensed under MIT, has existed for eleven years, and is maintained as an open source project with more than 27,000 stars and over 4,000 forks on GitHub.
read the full mkdocs-material overview →
About poznote
Poznote is a free, self hosted, open source note taking web application for individuals, homelabs, and teams who want Notion , Obsidian , Evernote , or OneNote style notes running on hardware they control.
read the full poznote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is mkdocs-material or poznote more popular?
mkdocs-material has 27,466 GitHub stars and poznote has 852. mkdocs-material has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs-material and poznote free?
Both are open source. mkdocs-material is licensed under MIT and poznote under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs-material and poznote?
mkdocs-material is written in Python and poznote in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mkdocs-material or poznote?
Choose mkdocs-material if you want the larger community (27,466 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose poznote if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.