head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs saber
Open-Notebook has 41,535 GitHub stars, 4,772 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped yesterday. saber has 5,011 stars, 421 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 729% (41,535 vs 5,011 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; saber is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. Open-Notebook has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, saber 8%. Open-Notebook was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| Open-Notebook | saber | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 421 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open-Notebook if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick saber if
- You want the saber feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and saber fits your workflow better
About Open-Notebook
[![Forks][forks shield]][forks url] [![Stargazers][stars shield]][stars url] [![Issues][issues shield]][issues url] [![MIT License][license shield]][license url] Open Notebook An open source, privacy focused alternative to Google's Notebook LM! Join our Discord server for help, to share workflow ideas, and suggest features! Checkout our website » Follow @lfnovo on X for updates 📚 Get Started · 📖 User Guide · ✨ Features · 🚀 Deploy Deutsch Español français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 A private, multi model, 100% local, full featured alternative to Notebook LM In a world dominated by Artificial Intelligence…
read the full Open-Notebook overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open-Notebook or saber more popular?
Open-Notebook has 41,535 GitHub stars and saber has 5,011. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and saber free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and saber under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and saber?
Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript and saber 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, Open-Notebook or saber?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (41,535 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose saber if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.