head to head · open source
mkdocs vs nb
mkdocs has 22,532 GitHub stars, 2,658 forks, 192 open issues and last shipped 1.0 years ago. nb has 8,462 stars, 258 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mkdocs leads on adoption by 166% (22,532 vs 8,462 stars). mkdocs is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause; nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0. mkdocs has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, nb 3%. nb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| mkdocs | nb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2025-10-20 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 258 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nb if
- You want the nb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and nb fits your workflow better
About mkdocs
MkDocs Project documentation with Markdown [![PyPI Version][pypi v image]][pypi v link] [![Build Status][GHAction image]][GHAction link] [![Coverage Status][codecov image]][codecov link] MkDocs is a fast , simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file. It is designed to be easy to use and can be extended with third party themes, plugins, and Markdown extensions. Please see the [Documentation][mkdocs] for an introductory tutorial and a full user…
read the full mkdocs overview →
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…
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Frequently asked questions
Is mkdocs or nb more popular?
mkdocs has 22,532 GitHub stars and nb has 8,462. mkdocs has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs and nb free?
Both are open source. mkdocs is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and nb under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs and nb?
mkdocs is written in Python and nb in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mkdocs or nb?
Choose mkdocs if you want the larger community (22,532 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose nb if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.