head to head · open source
NoteDiscovery vs poznote
NoteDiscovery has 2,807 GitHub stars, 233 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. poznote has 852 stars, 35 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. NoteDiscovery leads on adoption by 229% (2,807 vs 852 stars). NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript under MIT; poznote is written in JavaScript under MIT. NoteDiscovery has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, poznote 4%. NoteDiscovery was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (docker, free, 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 | poznote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.8K | ★ 852 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 233 | ⑂ 35 |
| 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 poznote if
- You want the poznote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and poznote 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 poznote
Poznote is a free, self hosted, open source note taking web application for individuals, homelabs, and teams who want Notion , Obsidian , Evernote , or OneNote style notes running on hardware they control.
read the full poznote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NoteDiscovery or poznote more popular?
NoteDiscovery has 2,807 GitHub stars and poznote has 852. NoteDiscovery has the larger community by that measure.
Are NoteDiscovery and poznote free?
Both are open source. NoteDiscovery is licensed under MIT and poznote under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NoteDiscovery and poznote?
NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript and poznote 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, NoteDiscovery or poznote?
Choose NoteDiscovery if you want the larger community (2,807 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose poznote if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.