head to head · open source
Notesnook vs saber
Notesnook has 14,614 GitHub stars, 1,009 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. saber has 4,817 stars, 371 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Notesnook leads on adoption by 203% (14,614 vs 4,817 stars). Notesnook is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; saber is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. Notesnook has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, saber 8%. 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 | saber | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 371 |
| 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 saber if
- You want the saber feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and saber 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 saber
Saber is a cross platform, open source handwriting notes app for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS and Windows, built for students, professionals and anyone else who writes by hand on a screen and wants their notes to stay on their own terms.
read the full saber overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Notesnook or saber more popular?
Notesnook has 14,614 GitHub stars and saber has 4,817. Notesnook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Notesnook and saber free?
Both are open source. Notesnook is licensed under GPL-3.0 and saber under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Notesnook and saber?
Notesnook is written in TypeScript and saber in Dart. 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 saber?
Choose Notesnook if you want the larger community (14,614 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose saber if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.