head to head · open source
NoteDiscovery vs nowen-note
NoteDiscovery has 2,807 GitHub stars, 233 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nowen-note has 525 stars, 79 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NoteDiscovery leads on adoption by 435% (2,807 vs 525 stars). NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript under MIT; nowen-note is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. NoteDiscovery has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, nowen-note 15%. 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
| NoteDiscovery | nowen-note | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.8K | ★ 525 |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 233 | ⑂ 79 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NoteDiscovery if
- You weight community size — 2.8K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nowen-note if
- You want the nowen-note 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 nowen-note fits your workflow better
About NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery is a lightweight, self hosted note taking and knowledge base application, written in JavaScript and released under the MIT licence, that stores every note as a plain markdown file in folders on your own server and is aimed at privacy conscious individuals, developers, knowledge workers, and teams who want to own their data.
read the full NoteDiscovery overview →
About nowen-note
Nowen Note (弄文笔记) is a GPL 3.0, self hosted knowledge base, daily journal and task workspace written in TypeScript for individuals and teams who want their notes, attachments and indexes to live on their own NAS or server.
read the full nowen-note overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NoteDiscovery or nowen-note more popular?
NoteDiscovery has 2,807 GitHub stars and nowen-note has 525. NoteDiscovery has the larger community by that measure.
Are NoteDiscovery and nowen-note free?
Both are open source. NoteDiscovery is licensed under MIT and nowen-note under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NoteDiscovery and nowen-note?
NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript and nowen-note 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, NoteDiscovery or nowen-note?
Choose NoteDiscovery if you want the larger community (2,807 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nowen-note if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.