Open source note-taking projects
Every project in the registry tagged note-taking, ranked by real GitHub adoption.
AI workspace for docs, projects, and wikis you control
Self-hosted timeline for quick notes, logs, and snippets
Encrypted note-taking that syncs across all your devices
Privacy-first knowledge management with block-level linking
Privacy-first knowledge base that connects your notes
AI-powered research notebook with full privacy control
Zero-knowledge encrypted notes that sync across all devices
CLI and local web plain text note‑taking, bookmarking, and archiving with linking, tagging, filtering, search, Git versioning & syncing, Pandoc conversion, + mo
Secure, encrypted notes for your digital life
Application for Mind Mapping, Knowledge Management, Project Management. Develop, organize and communicate your ideas and knowledge in the most effective way.
Your web application for managing personal data.
A self-hosted, database-less note taking web app that utilises a flat folder of markdown files for storage.
Your Self-Hosted Knowledge Base
📚 The open-source, offline-first Notion, Obsidian & Confluence alternative. Advanced Markdown, multi-tenant teams, OIDC/SSO, and local S3 backups. Deploy in on
Lightweight Knowledge Base and Feed Reader.
Transcribe meetings and voice notes with local AI, no bots required
Privacy-focused note-taking made simple and fast
Self-hosted sticky notes with better organization
Related tags
Frequently asked questions
How many open source note-taking projects are there?
This registry tracks 18 projects tagged note-taking, with 374,777 GitHub stars between them. The most-adopted is AppFlowy at 76,797 stars.
Are these note-taking projects free to use?
Yes — 17 of the 18 carry an explicit open-source licence across 4 distinct licences, so there is no licence fee. Where a project also sells a hosted or enterprise version, the self-hosted path remains free.
Which note-taking project should I choose?
The list above is ranked by GitHub stars, but stars measure attention rather than fit. Check three things on each card: the licence (permissive versus copyleft), the language it is written in, and the last-push date — a high-star project that has not been pushed in a year is a liability.
Are these note-taking projects still maintained?
17 of the 18 were pushed in the last 90 days, and every card shows its exact last-push date so you can see the rest. Sort your shortlist by that date before committing to a migration.