head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs IdeaMemo
Open-Notebook has 39,345 GitHub stars, 4,561 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. IdeaMemo has 1,158 stars, 164 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 3,298% (39,345 vs 1,158 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; IdeaMemo is written in Kotlin under GPL-3.0. Open-Notebook has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, IdeaMemo 14%. Open-Notebook 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
| Open-Notebook | IdeaMemo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-08-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.6K | ⑂ 164 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open-Notebook if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick IdeaMemo if
- You want the IdeaMemo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and IdeaMemo fits your workflow better
About Open-Notebook
Open Notebook is an open source, privacy focused research notebook that replicates and extends Google’s Notebook LM functionality. It runs locally or self hosted, letting users manage AI powered research workflows without surrendering data to cloud providers. Built with TypeScript, Next.js, React, SurrealDB, and LangChain, it targets researchers, students, and knowledge workers seeking control over their data and tools.
read the full Open-Notebook overview →
About IdeaMemo
IdeaMemo is a free, open source Android quick capture memo app written in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose under the GPL 3.0 licence, for Android users who want to record short ideas in a local database and optionally sync them to their own WebDAV cloud.
read the full IdeaMemo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open-Notebook or IdeaMemo more popular?
Open-Notebook has 39,345 GitHub stars and IdeaMemo has 1,158. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and IdeaMemo free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and IdeaMemo under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and IdeaMemo?
Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript and IdeaMemo in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Open-Notebook or IdeaMemo?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (39,345 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose IdeaMemo if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.