Files.md vs Pad

Comparing two open source alternatives to Notion. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

Files.md

MIT

A simple local-first note-taking app for your plain .md files with Telegram bot access.

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Pad

Apache-2.0

Local-first project management for developers and AI agents, with a CLI, web UI, SQLite backend, and native skills for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and more.

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Side-by-side comparison

	Files.md	Pad
License	MIT	Apache-2.0
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	4,156	182
Forks	218	24
Open Issues	9	6
Last Commit	Sep 2, 2026	Sep 27, 2026
First Released	May 23, 2023	Mar 26, 2026
Categories	Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools	Project Management
Tags	#markdown #notes #local-first #pwa #wiki	#local-first #cli #ai-agents #agent-tools #mcp-server

GitHub stars over time

Files.md

Pad182

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