head to head · open source
Open-Notebook vs Tolaria
Open-Notebook has 41,377 GitHub stars, 4,762 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Tolaria has 20,423 stars, 1,409 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open-Notebook leads on adoption by 103% (41,377 vs 20,423 stars). Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT; Tolaria is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Open-Notebook has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Tolaria 7%. Tolaria 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
| Open-Notebook | Tolaria | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 20K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Open-Notebook if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Tolaria if
- You want the Tolaria feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Tolaria 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 Tolaria
💧 Tolaria Tolaria is a desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux for managing markdown knowledge bases . People use it for a variety of use cases: Operate second brains and personal knowledge Organize company docs as context for AI Store OpenClaw/assistants memory and procedures Personally, I use it to run my life (hey 👋 Luca here). I have a massive workspace of 10,000+ notes, which are the result of my Refactoring work + a ton of personal journaling and second braining . Sponsors Tolaria is supported by a small panel of tools that help keep the project healthy, tested, and ready for AI assisted development. I…
read the full Tolaria overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Open-Notebook or Tolaria more popular?
Open-Notebook has 41,377 GitHub stars and Tolaria has 20,423. Open-Notebook has the larger community by that measure.
Are Open-Notebook and Tolaria free?
Both are open source. Open-Notebook is licensed under MIT and Tolaria under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Open-Notebook and Tolaria?
Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript and Tolaria 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, Open-Notebook or Tolaria?
Choose Open-Notebook if you want the larger community (41,377 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Tolaria if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.