head to head · open source
QOwnNotes vs zotero-AI-Butler
QOwnNotes has 5,885 GitHub stars, 500 forks, 63 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. zotero-AI-Butler has 1,747 stars, 97 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. QOwnNotes leads on adoption by 237% (5,885 vs 1,747 stars). QOwnNotes is written in C++ under GPL-2.0; zotero-AI-Butler is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. QOwnNotes has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, zotero-AI-Butler 6%. QOwnNotes was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (llm, 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 | zotero-AI-Butler | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.9K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 500 | ⑂ 97 |
| 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 zotero-AI-Butler if
- You want the zotero-AI-Butler 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 zotero-AI-Butler fits your workflow better
About QOwnNotes
QOwnNotes is a GPL 2.0 licensed, C++ plain text notepad and todo list manager with Markdown support for GNU/Linux, macOS and Windows that stores every note as a Markdown file and pairs with Nextcloud or ownCloud so the same notes stay readable on mobile and in the web service.
read the full QOwnNotes overview →
About zotero-AI-Butler
zotero AI Butler is a free, open source Zotero plugin written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL 3.0 that calls large language models to read the PDFs already sitting in a Zotero library and writes the results back as native Zotero notes, built for researchers, students, and anyone whose "read later" pile has outgrown their reading time.
read the full zotero-AI-Butler overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is QOwnNotes or zotero-AI-Butler more popular?
QOwnNotes has 5,885 GitHub stars and zotero-AI-Butler has 1,747. QOwnNotes has the larger community by that measure.
Are QOwnNotes and zotero-AI-Butler free?
Both are open source. QOwnNotes is licensed under GPL-2.0 and zotero-AI-Butler under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between QOwnNotes and zotero-AI-Butler?
QOwnNotes is written in C++ and zotero-AI-Butler 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, QOwnNotes or zotero-AI-Butler?
Choose QOwnNotes if you want the larger community (5,885 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose zotero-AI-Butler if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.