head to head · open source
nb vs gramax
nb has 8,462 GitHub stars, 258 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. gramax has 619 stars, 28 forks, 279 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. nb leads on adoption by 1,267% (8,462 vs 619 stars). nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0; gramax is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. nb has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, gramax 5%. nb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (git, knowledge-base, markdown), 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
| nb | gramax | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.5K | ★ 619 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 258 | ⑂ 28 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nb if
- You weight community size — 8.5K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gramax if
- You want the gramax feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and gramax fits your workflow better
About nb
nb is a command line and local web note‑taking, bookmarking, archiving, and knowledge base application with: plain text data storage, encryption, filtering, pinning, tagging, and search, Git backed versioning and syncing, Pandoc backed conversion, [[wiki style linking]] , terminal and GUI web browsing, inline images, todos with tasks, global and local notebooks, organization with folders, customizable color themes, extensibility through plugins, and more, in a single portable script. nb creates notes in text based formats like Markdown, Org, LaTeX, and AsciiDoc, can work with files in any format, can import and…
About gramax
Gramax is a free, open source application for creating, editing, and publishing docs as code. It stores all data locally in Markdown format, offering flexibility and offline access, and seamlessly integrates with Git for version control and collaboration. Whether you need a product documentation portal, an internal knowledge base, project documentation, or personal notes, Gramax is a versatile solution. Looking for an alternative to GitBook, Mintlify, or typical Static Site Generators (SSGs)? Gramax provides a powerful, Markdown based approach that combines an intuitive visual editor with robust Git integration…
read the full gramax overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nb or gramax more popular?
nb has 8,462 GitHub stars and gramax has 619. nb has the larger community by that measure.
Are nb and gramax free?
Both are open source. nb is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and gramax under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nb and gramax?
nb is written in Shell and gramax in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nb or gramax?
Choose nb if you want the larger community (8,462 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose gramax if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.