head to head · open source
mkdocs-material vs nb
mkdocs-material has 27,596 GitHub stars, 4,154 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. nb has 8,462 stars, 258 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. mkdocs-material leads on adoption by 226% (27,596 vs 8,462 stars). mkdocs-material is written in Python under MIT; nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0. mkdocs-material has attracted 15% 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.
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 | nb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 258 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mkdocs-material if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the MIT 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-material
A powerful documentation framework on top of MkDocs Write your documentation in Markdown and create a professional static site for your Open Source or commercial project in minutes – searchable, customizable, more than 60 languages, for all devices. Check out the demo – squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs material . Silver sponsors Bronze sponsors <img src=" height="58"
read the full mkdocs-material 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-material or nb more popular?
mkdocs-material has 27,596 GitHub stars and nb has 8,462. mkdocs-material has the larger community by that measure.
Are mkdocs-material and nb free?
Both are open source. mkdocs-material is licensed under MIT and nb under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mkdocs-material and nb?
mkdocs-material 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-material or nb?
Choose mkdocs-material if you want the larger community (27,596 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nb if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.