head to head · open source
nb vs NoteDiscovery
nb has 8,462 GitHub stars, 258 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. NoteDiscovery has 2,868 stars, 247 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nb leads on adoption by 195% (8,462 vs 2,868 stars). nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0; NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript under MIT. nb has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, NoteDiscovery 9%. NoteDiscovery was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (knowledge-base, markdown, note-taking), 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 | NoteDiscovery | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.5K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Shell | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 258 | ⑂ 247 |
| 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 NoteDiscovery if
- You want the NoteDiscovery feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and NoteDiscovery 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 NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery Your Self Hosted Knowledge Base What is NoteDiscovery? NoteDiscovery is a lightweight, self hosted note taking application that puts you in complete control of your knowledge base. Write, organize, and discover your notes with a beautiful, modern interface—all running on your own server. Write · Find · Discover 🎯 Who is it for? Privacy conscious users who want complete control over their data Developers who prefer markdown and local file storage Knowledge workers building a personal wiki or second brain Teams looking for a self hosted alternative to commercial apps Anyone who values simplicity…
read the full NoteDiscovery overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nb or NoteDiscovery more popular?
nb has 8,462 GitHub stars and NoteDiscovery has 2,868. nb has the larger community by that measure.
Are nb and NoteDiscovery free?
Both are open source. nb is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and NoteDiscovery under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nb and NoteDiscovery?
nb is written in Shell and NoteDiscovery 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, nb or NoteDiscovery?
Choose nb if you want the larger community (8,462 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose NoteDiscovery if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.