head to head · open source
saber vs Darkwrite
saber has 4,817 GitHub stars, 371 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Darkwrite has 315 stars, 14 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped yesterday. saber leads on adoption by 1,429% (4,817 vs 315 stars). saber is written in Dart under GPL-3.0; Darkwrite is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. saber has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Darkwrite 4%. Darkwrite was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (cross-platform, linux, macos, notes-app), 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
| saber | Darkwrite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.8K | ★ 315 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Dart | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 371 | ⑂ 14 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick saber if
- You weight community size — 4.8K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Darkwrite if
- You want the Darkwrite 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 Darkwrite fits your workflow better
About saber
Saber is a cross platform, open source handwriting notes app for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS and Windows, built for students, professionals and anyone else who writes by hand on a screen and wants their notes to stay on their own terms.
read the full saber overview →
About Darkwrite
Darkwrite is an open source, cross platform desktop note taking application written in TypeScript and built on Electron, made for people who want to write notes without distraction, accounts, or a server holding their data.
read the full Darkwrite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is saber or Darkwrite more popular?
saber has 4,817 GitHub stars and Darkwrite has 315. saber has the larger community by that measure.
Are saber and Darkwrite free?
Both are open source. saber is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Darkwrite under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between saber and Darkwrite?
saber is written in Dart and Darkwrite 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, saber or Darkwrite?
Choose saber if you want the larger community (4,817 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Darkwrite if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.