head to head · open source
Notesnook vs dstask
Notesnook has 14,617 GitHub stars, 1,009 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. dstask has 1,204 stars, 68 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Notesnook leads on adoption by 1,114% (14,617 vs 1,204 stars). Notesnook is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; dstask is written in Go under MIT. Notesnook has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, dstask 6%. Notesnook was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (notes, notes-app), 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
| Notesnook | dstask | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-05-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 68 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Notesnook if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dstask if
- You want the dstask feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dstask fits your workflow better
About Notesnook
Notesnook is an open source, end to end encrypted note taking application in the productivity and knowledge management ecosystem. It is presented as a free alternative to Evernote, with clients for the web, desktop, and mobile platforms. The project uses a TypeScript and JavaScript monorepo, React for the interface, React Native for mobile apps, and Electron for the desktop app.
read the full Notesnook overview →
About dstask
dstask is a personal, terminal based task and note manager that keeps every task in a Git repository, built for developers and command line users who want Taskwarrior style tracking without operating a sync server.
read the full dstask overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Notesnook or dstask more popular?
Notesnook has 14,617 GitHub stars and dstask has 1,204. Notesnook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Notesnook and dstask free?
Both are open source. Notesnook is licensed under GPL-3.0 and dstask under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Notesnook and dstask?
Notesnook is written in TypeScript and dstask in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Notesnook or dstask?
Choose Notesnook if you want the larger community (14,617 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose dstask if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.