head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs vnote
Open-Notebook has 39,222 GitHub stars, 4,548 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. vnote has 12,964 stars, 1,298 forks, 270 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 203% (39,222 vs 12,964 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; vnote is written in C++ under LGPL-3.0. Open-Notebook has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, vnote 10%. vnote 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
| Open-Notebook | vnote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 13K |
| License | MIT | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.5K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 vnote if
- You want the vnote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and vnote 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 vnote
VNote is a Qt based, free and open source note taking application written in native C++, focused on Markdown and aimed at anyone who wants structured note management and a strong editing experience instead of a bare Markdown text editor.
read the full vnote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open-Notebook or vnote more popular?
Open-Notebook has 39,222 GitHub stars and vnote has 12,964. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and vnote free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and vnote under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and vnote?
Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript and vnote in C++. 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 vnote?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (39,222 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vnote if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.