head to head · open source
vnote vs iwe
vnote has 13,032 GitHub stars, 1,296 forks, 270 open issues and last shipped yesterday. iwe has 1,815 stars, 94 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vnote leads on adoption by 618% (13,032 vs 1,815 stars). vnote is written in C++ under LGPL-3.0; iwe is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. vnote has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, iwe 5%. vnote was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (markdown), 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
| vnote | iwe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 13K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 94 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vnote if
- You weight community size — 13K stars and counting
- You want the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick iwe if
- You want the iwe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and iwe fits your workflow better
About vnote
VNote 简体中文 Project on Gitee A pleasant note taking platform. For more information, please visit VNote's Home Page . Description VNote is a Qt based, free and open source note taking application, focusing on Markdown now. VNote is designed to provide a pleasant note taking platform with excellent editing experience. VNote is NOT just a simple editor for Markdown. By providing notes management, VNote makes taking notes in Markdown simpler. In the future, VNote will support more formats besides Markdown. Utilizing Qt, VNote could run on Linux , Windows , and macOS . Downloads Continuous builds on master branch…
read the full vnote overview →
About iwe
IWE Memory system for you and your AI agents Turn your thinking into queryable context IWE turns a directory of markdown files into a knowledge graph — a connected structure you browse from your editor and your AI queries from the command line. Same files, same links, two interfaces. No cloud, no database, no lock in. Version everything with git. IWE is for people who want database style queries on their notes — "all drafts under this subtree", "every accepted decision in Q1" — without moving them into an actual database. Write in Markdown , structure with links, give AI agents the tools to navigate your…
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Frequently asked questions
Is vnote or iwe more popular?
vnote has 13,032 GitHub stars and iwe has 1,815. vnote has the larger community by that measure.
Are vnote and iwe free?
Both are open source. vnote is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and iwe under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vnote and iwe?
vnote is written in C++ and iwe in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, vnote or iwe?
Choose vnote if you want the larger community (13,032 stars) or its LGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose iwe if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.