head to head · open source
storybook vs nowen-note
storybook has 91,089 GitHub stars, 10,452 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nowen-note has 523 stars, 79 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. storybook leads on adoption by 17,317% (91,089 vs 523 stars). storybook is written in TypeScript under MIT; nowen-note is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. storybook has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, nowen-note 15%. 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 | nowen-note | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 91K | ★ 523 |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 79 |
| 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 nowen-note if
- You want the nowen-note feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and nowen-note 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 nowen-note
Nowen Note (弄文笔记) is a GPL 3.0, self hosted knowledge base, daily journal and task workspace written in TypeScript for individuals and teams who want their notes, attachments and indexes to live on their own NAS or server.
read the full nowen-note overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is storybook or nowen-note more popular?
storybook has 91,089 GitHub stars and nowen-note has 523. storybook has the larger community by that measure.
Are storybook and nowen-note free?
Both are open source. storybook is licensed under MIT and nowen-note under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between storybook and nowen-note?
storybook is written in TypeScript and nowen-note in TypeScript. 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 nowen-note?
Choose storybook if you want the larger community (91,089 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nowen-note if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.