head to head · open source
Outline vs vnote
Outline has 41,158 GitHub stars, 3,652 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. vnote has 13,030 stars, 1,295 forks, 270 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Outline leads on adoption by 216% (41,158 vs 13,030 stars). Outline is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; vnote is written in C++ under LGPL-3.0. Outline has attracted 9% 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.
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
| Outline | vnote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 13K |
| License | Custom / other | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.7K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Outline if
- You weight community size — 41K 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 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 Outline
A fast, collaborative, knowledge base for your team built using React and Node.js. Try out Outline using our hosted version at www.getoutline.com . This is the source code that runs Outline and all the associated services. If you want to use Outline then you don't need to run this code, A hosted version of the app is offered at getoutline.com. You can also find documentation on using Outline in our guide. If you'd like to run your own copy of Outline or contribute to development then this is the place for you. Installation Please see the documentation for running your own copy of Outline in a production…
read the full Outline overview →
About vnote
VNote 简体中文 Project on Gitee A pleasant note taking platform. For more information, please visit VNote's Home Page . Description VNote is a Qt based, free and open source note taking application, focusing on Markdown now. VNote is designed to provide a pleasant note taking platform with excellent editing experience. VNote is NOT just a simple editor for Markdown. By providing notes management, VNote makes taking notes in Markdown simpler. In the future, VNote will support more formats besides Markdown. Utilizing Qt, VNote could run on Linux , Windows , and macOS . Downloads Continuous builds on master branch…
read the full vnote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Outline or vnote more popular?
Outline has 41,158 GitHub stars and vnote has 13,030. Outline has the larger community by that measure.
Are Outline and vnote free?
Both are open source. Outline has no licence declared in this registry, and vnote is licensed under LGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Outline and vnote?
Outline 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, Outline or vnote?
Choose Outline if you want the larger community (41,158 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose vnote if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.