Joplin vs QST
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options
— licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one
replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Compare Joplin with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Plane SiYuan Logseq Paperless-ngx Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden BookStack Foam Omnivore OpenProject Notesnook Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr VNote Wallabag Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Buku Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces Papra DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry Archivy Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Zim Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Atomic Server Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes OutWiker WiseMapping Tiddloid MyTetra WikidPad Mindwendel LibreKB Digimindmap memEx
Compare QST with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text SiYuan Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes
Feature Joplin QST Category Notes & Knowledge Base Notes & Knowledge Base License AGPL-3.0 GPL-2.0 Language TypeScript Perl Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 256 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 55,856 — First released 2017 2020 Replaces Evernote, OneNote —
Why pick each one
Choose Joplin if… Strong privacy with E2EE Flexible sync options Active development Joplin details Choose QST if… Released under the GPL-2.0 license Written in Perl Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM QST details
Frequently asked questions Is Joplin or QST better? Joplin is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider QST if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Joplin and QST free and open-source? Yes. Joplin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and QST under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Joplin and QST with Docker? Joplin: yes. QST: check the project docs for container support.