head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs MarkFlowy
Open-Notebook has 41,535 GitHub stars, 4,772 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped today. MarkFlowy has 2,426 stars, 98 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 1,612% (41,535 vs 2,426 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; MarkFlowy is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Open-Notebook has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, MarkFlowy 4%. 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 | MarkFlowy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 98 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open-Notebook if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT 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 Open-Notebook
[![Forks][forks shield]][forks url] [![Stargazers][stars shield]][stars url] [![Issues][issues shield]][issues url] [![MIT License][license shield]][license url] Open Notebook An open source, privacy focused alternative to Google's Notebook LM! Join our Discord server for help, to share workflow ideas, and suggest features! Checkout our website » Follow @lfnovo on X for updates 📚 Get Started · 📖 User Guide · ✨ Features · 🚀 Deploy Deutsch Español français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 A private, multi model, 100% local, full featured alternative to Notebook LM In a world dominated by Artificial Intelligence…
read the full Open-Notebook 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 Open-Notebook or MarkFlowy more popular?
Open-Notebook has 41,535 GitHub stars and MarkFlowy has 2,426. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and MarkFlowy free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and MarkFlowy under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and MarkFlowy?
Open-Notebook 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, Open-Notebook or MarkFlowy?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (41,535 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose MarkFlowy if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.