head to head · open source
Joplin vs Open-Notebook
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open-Notebook has 39,087 stars, 4,527 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Joplin leads on adoption by 44% (56,416 vs 39,087 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Open-Notebook 12%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (note-taking), 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
| Joplin | Open-Notebook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 39K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Joplin if
- You weight community size — 56K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Open-Notebook if
- You want the Open-Notebook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Open-Notebook fits your workflow better
About Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source, privacy focused note taking and to do application that keeps notes as Markdown on your own device and synchronises them, end to end encrypted, across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
read the full Joplin overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or Open-Notebook more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and Open-Notebook has 39,087. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and Open-Notebook free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and Open-Notebook?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and Open-Notebook 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, Joplin or Open-Notebook?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Open-Notebook if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.