head to head · open source
Notesnook vs MarkFlowy
Notesnook has 14,883 GitHub stars, 1,045 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. MarkFlowy has 2,426 stars, 98 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Notesnook leads on adoption by 513% (14,883 vs 2,426 stars). Notesnook is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; MarkFlowy is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Notesnook has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, MarkFlowy 4%. Notesnook was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | MarkFlowy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 98 |
| 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 MarkFlowy if
- You want the MarkFlowy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and MarkFlowy fits your workflow better
About Notesnook
Notesnook An end to end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote. Website About us Roadmap Downloads Twitter Discord Overview Notesnook is a free (as in speech) & open source note taking app focused on user privacy & ease of use. To ensure zero knowledge principles, Notesnook encrypts everything on your device using XChaCha20 Poly1305 & Argon2 . Notesnook is our proof that privacy does not (always) have to come at the cost of convenience. We aim to provide users peace of mind & 100% confidence that their notes are safe and secure. The decision to go fully open source is one of the most crucial steps towards…
read the full Notesnook overview →
About MarkFlowy
MarkFlowy beta Modern and intelligent Markdown editor. [![App Version][version badge]][release] [![Downloads][downloads badge]][release] [![Build Status][build badge]][build] [![Code of Conduct][coc badge]][coc] [![Commit Activity][commit badge]][commit] [![issues closed]]( [![PRs Welcome][prs welcome badge]][prs welcome] [![TypeScript version icon]]( [![Rust version icon]]( [![License][license badge]][license] [![codefactor]]( English 简体中文 日本語 Features High Performance: The rebuilt editor dramatically improves opening speed for large documents. A 2 MB Markdown file opened in around 1 second in testing. Built in…
read the full MarkFlowy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Notesnook or MarkFlowy more popular?
Notesnook has 14,883 GitHub stars and MarkFlowy has 2,426. Notesnook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Notesnook and MarkFlowy free?
Both are open source. Notesnook is licensed under GPL-3.0 and MarkFlowy under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Notesnook and MarkFlowy?
Notesnook is written in TypeScript and MarkFlowy 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, Notesnook or MarkFlowy?
Choose Notesnook if you want the larger community (14,883 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MarkFlowy if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.