head to head · open source
wiki vs flatnotes
wiki has 29,128 GitHub stars, 3,335 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flatnotes has 3,272 stars, 222 forks, 124 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. wiki leads on adoption by 790% (29,128 vs 3,272 stars). wiki is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; flatnotes is written in Vue under MIT. wiki has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, flatnotes 7%. wiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (markdown, wiki), 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
| wiki | flatnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 222 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick wiki if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 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 wiki
A modern, lightweight and powerful wiki app built on NodeJS Official Website Documentation Requirements Installation Demo Changelog Feature Requests Chat with us on Discord Translations (We need your help!) Special Thanks Contribute Follow our Twitter feed to learn about upcoming updates and new releases! Donate Wiki.js is an open source project that has been made possible due to the generous contributions by community backers. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider becoming a sponsor, becoming a patron, donating to our OpenCollective, via Paypal or via Ethereum (
About flatnotes
A self hosted, database less note taking web app that utilises a flat folder of markdown files for storage. Log into the demo site and take a look around. Note: This site resets every 15 minutes. Contents Design Principle Features Getting Started Hosted Self Hosted Roadmap Contributing Sponsorship Thanks Design Principle flatnotes is designed to be a distraction free note taking app that puts your note content first. This means: A clean and simple user interface. No folders, notebooks or anything like that. Just all of your notes, backed by powerful search and tagging functionality. Quick access to a full text…
read the full flatnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is wiki or flatnotes more popular?
wiki has 29,128 GitHub stars and flatnotes has 3,272. wiki has the larger community by that measure.
Are wiki and flatnotes free?
Both are open source. wiki is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and flatnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between wiki and flatnotes?
wiki 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, wiki or flatnotes?
Choose wiki if you want the larger community (29,128 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose flatnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.