head to head · open source
storybook vs flatnotes
storybook has 91,081 GitHub stars, 10,452 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flatnotes has 3,224 stars, 214 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. storybook leads on adoption by 2,725% (91,081 vs 3,224 stars). storybook is written in TypeScript under MIT; flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT. storybook has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, flatnotes 7%. storybook was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| storybook | flatnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 3.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 214 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick storybook if
- You weight community size — 91K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick flatnotes if
- You want the flatnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and flatnotes fits your workflow better
About storybook
Storybook is an open source, MIT licensed frontend workshop, written in TypeScript, for building, documenting, and testing UI components and pages in isolation, aimed at frontend engineers and design system teams working in React, Angular, Vue, Svelte, React Native, HTML, and other supported renderers.
read the full storybook overview →
About flatnotes
flatnotes is a self hosted, database less note taking web app that keeps every note as a Markdown file in a flat folder, built for individuals and small teams who want a browser based editor without handing ownership of their notes to a hosted service.
read the full flatnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is storybook or flatnotes more popular?
storybook has 91,081 GitHub stars and flatnotes has 3,224. storybook has the larger community by that measure.
Are storybook and flatnotes free?
Both are open source. storybook is licensed under MIT and flatnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between storybook and flatnotes?
storybook is written in TypeScript and flatnotes in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, storybook or flatnotes?
Choose storybook if you want the larger community (91,081 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose flatnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.