head to head · open source
storybook vs nb
storybook has 91,081 GitHub stars, 10,452 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nb has 8,406 stars, 254 forks, 153 open issues and last shipped 23 days ago. storybook leads on adoption by 984% (91,081 vs 8,406 stars). storybook is written in TypeScript under MIT; nb is written in Shell under AGPL-3.0. storybook has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, nb 3%. 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 | nb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 8.4K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 254 |
| 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 nb if
- You want the nb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and nb 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 nb
nb is a command line and local web note taking, bookmarking, archiving, and knowledge base application distributed as a single portable shell script, aimed at people who want plain text notes, Git backed history, and local search without a hosted service.
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Frequently asked questions
Is storybook or nb more popular?
storybook has 91,081 GitHub stars and nb has 8,406. storybook has the larger community by that measure.
Are storybook and nb free?
Both are open source. storybook is licensed under MIT and nb under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between storybook and nb?
storybook is written in TypeScript and nb in Shell. 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 nb?
Choose storybook if you want the larger community (91,081 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nb if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.