head to head · open source
saber vs GitJournal
saber has 5,011 GitHub stars, 421 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. GitJournal has 4,245 stars, 318 forks, 132 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. saber leads on adoption by 18% (5,011 vs 4,245 stars). saber is written in Dart under GPL-3.0; GitJournal is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. saber has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, GitJournal 7%. saber was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (notes, 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 | GitJournal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.0K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Dart | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-05-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 421 | ⑂ 318 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick saber if
- You weight community size — 5.0K 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 GitJournal if
- You want the GitJournal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and GitJournal fits your workflow better
About saber
Saber [ ][google play] [ ][f droid] [ ][app store] [ ][download windows] [ ][flathub] [ ][download appimage] English čeština Deutsch 中文 (简体中文, 中国) 中文 (繁體, 台灣) العربية Tiếng Việt Saber is the notes app built for handwriting. It's designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible, while still delivering unique features that you'll actually use. Additionally, Saber is available across all your devices, large and small, and syncs between them seamlessly. Notably, it can invert your notes when you're in dark mode. This allows you to write with white ink on a black background, which is much easier on the eyes in low…
read the full saber overview →
About GitJournal
Mobile first Markdown Notes integrated with Git Summary GitJournal is a note taking app focused on privacy and data portability. It stores all its notes in a standardized Markdown + YAML header format (optional). The notes are stored in a Git Repo of your choice GitHub / Gitlab / Custom provider. This means you can easily self host or host your notes in one of the many Git providers. Screenshots Migrating from Existing Apps Google Keep Day One Classic Narrate Simplenote Contributing Please feel free to open an issue for any bug or feature request. Additionally, you can vote on existing Issues by reacting with a…
read the full GitJournal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is saber or GitJournal more popular?
saber has 5,011 GitHub stars and GitJournal has 4,245. saber has the larger community by that measure.
Are saber and GitJournal free?
Both are open source. saber is licensed under GPL-3.0 and GitJournal under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between saber and GitJournal?
saber is written in Dart and GitJournal in Dart. 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 GitJournal?
Choose saber if you want the larger community (5,011 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose GitJournal if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.