head to head · open source
saber vs GitJournal
saber has 4,817 GitHub stars, 371 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. GitJournal has 4,224 stars, 309 forks, 132 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. saber leads on adoption by 14% (4,817 vs 4,224 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 | ★ 4.8K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Dart | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-05-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 371 | ⑂ 309 |
| 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 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 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 GitJournal
GitJournal is a mobile first, privacy focused Markdown note taking app that stores every note in a Git repository of the user's choosing, built for people who want their writing to stay portable and version controlled instead of locked inside a proprietary sync service.
read the full GitJournal overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is saber or GitJournal more popular?
saber has 4,817 GitHub stars and GitJournal has 4,224. 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 (4,817 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.