SHSelfHostIndex

Joplin vs RedNotebook

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?
JO Joplin Open-source note-taking and to-do app with sync VS RE RedNotebook Open-source journaling and diary application
FeatureJoplinRedNotebook
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptPython
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 55,856★ 558
First released20172008
ReplacesEvernote, OneNoteDay One, Journey

Why pick each one

Choose Joplin if…

  • Strong privacy with E2EE
  • Flexible sync options
  • Active development
Joplin details

Choose RedNotebook if…

  • Simple journaling experience
  • Notes stay local and portable
RedNotebook details

Frequently asked questions

Is Joplin or RedNotebook better?

Neither is universally better. Joplin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Joplin and RedNotebook free and open-source?

Yes. Joplin is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and RedNotebook under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Joplin and RedNotebook with Docker?

Joplin: yes. RedNotebook: check the project docs for container support.

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