head to head · open source
Notesnook vs saber
Notesnook has 14,883 GitHub stars, 1,045 forks, 1,012 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. saber has 5,011 stars, 421 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Notesnook leads on adoption by 197% (14,883 vs 5,011 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 | ★ 5.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 421 |
| 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 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 saber
Saber [ ][google play] [ ][f droid] [ ][app store] [ ][download windows] [ ][flathub] [ ][download appimage] English čeština Deutsch 中文 (简体中文, 中国) 中文 (繁體, 台灣) العربية Tiếng Việt Saber is the notes app built for handwriting. It's designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible, while still delivering unique features that you'll actually use. Additionally, Saber is available across all your devices, large and small, and syncs between them seamlessly. Notably, it can invert your notes when you're in dark mode. This allows you to write with white ink on a black background, which is much easier on the eyes in low…
read the full saber overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Notesnook or saber more popular?
Notesnook has 14,883 GitHub stars and saber has 5,011. 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 (14,883 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.