head to head · open source
Planka vs freeplane
Planka has 12,666 GitHub stars, 1,397 forks, 425 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. freeplane has 4,456 stars, 503 forks, 453 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Planka leads on adoption by 184% (12,666 vs 4,456 stars). Planka is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence; freeplane is written in Java under GPL-2.0. Planka has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, freeplane 11%. Planka 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
| Planka | freeplane | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 503 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Planka if
- You weight community size — 13K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick freeplane if
- You want the freeplane feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and freeplane fits your workflow better
About Planka
PLANKA Project mastering driven by fun Install · Demo · Docs · API · Cloud · Pro version PLANKA Pro When the whole team runs on PLANKA. Phones and tablets · five themes · a dashboard across every project · calendar, timeline and map views · cards on more than one board · templates · guest roles · SSO · PDF export. Self hosted exactly as you host it now, supported by the people who build it. Pro upgrades an existing Community installation in place — your database, your volume, your data. It is a real migration rather than a new image: Pro adds a Valkey service and a one off schema promote. The promote accepts…
read the full Planka overview →
About freeplane
Freeplane ========= Freeplane is a free and open source software application that supports thinking, sharing information, getting things done at work, in school and at home. It provides you a set of tools for mind mapping (also known as concept mapping or information mapping) and navigating the mapped information. Freeplane is also a more robust and superior alternative to Xmind, Mindmeister, and similar mind mapping software. Freeplane is written in Java using OSGi and Java Swing. It runs on any operating system that has a current version of Java installed. It can be installed or can run from removable storage…
read the full freeplane overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Planka or freeplane more popular?
Planka has 12,666 GitHub stars and freeplane has 4,456. Planka has the larger community by that measure.
Are Planka and freeplane free?
Both are open source. Planka has no licence declared in this registry, and freeplane is licensed under GPL-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Planka and freeplane?
Planka is written in JavaScript and freeplane in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Planka or freeplane?
Choose Planka if you want the larger community (12,666 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose freeplane if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.