head to head · open source
QOwnNotes vs brain.md
QOwnNotes has 5,949 GitHub stars, 498 forks, 63 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. brain.md has 594 stars, 59 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. QOwnNotes leads on adoption by 902% (5,949 vs 594 stars). QOwnNotes is written in C++ under GPL-2.0; brain.md is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. QOwnNotes has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, brain.md 10%. QOwnNotes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (markdown), 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
| QOwnNotes | brain.md | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.9K | ★ 594 |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 498 | ⑂ 59 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick QOwnNotes if
- You weight community size — 5.9K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick brain.md if
- You want the brain.md feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and brain.md fits your workflow better
About QOwnNotes
QOwnNotes Installation Changelog Issues Shortcuts Documentation Privacy Policy Screenshots Nextcloud API App ownCloud API App Matrix room Telegram Group IRC Chat Mastodon QOwnNotes Web Companion Firefox extension QOwnNotes Web Companion Chrome extension QOwnNotes Web App QOwnNotes Tor Hidden Service QOwnNotes is the open source notepad with Markdown support and todo list manager for GNU/Linux , macOS and Windows , that works together with Nextcloud Notes and ownCloud Notes . You are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device , like with QOwnNotes…
read the full QOwnNotes overview →
About brain.md
brain.md A persistent, file based memory layer for your coding agents. An open, agent agnostic standard for capturing a project's durable knowledge as plain Markdown — read and written through one small CLI. It lives in your repo and travels across agents, machines, and models. Why · Quick start · See it work · CLI · How it works This repository is the toolkit , not a brain itself. Install it once, then in any project run brain init : it scaffolds a BRAIN.md protocol file, a brain/ directory, and default wires agent config files into your repo. From then on, any coding agent — Claude Code, Codex, anything that…
read the full brain.md overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is QOwnNotes or brain.md more popular?
QOwnNotes has 5,949 GitHub stars and brain.md has 594. QOwnNotes has the larger community by that measure.
Are QOwnNotes and brain.md free?
Both are open source. QOwnNotes is licensed under GPL-2.0 and brain.md under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between QOwnNotes and brain.md?
QOwnNotes is written in C++ and brain.md in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, QOwnNotes or brain.md?
Choose QOwnNotes if you want the larger community (5,949 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose brain.md if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.