Joplin vs Scratch

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

Joplin

Privacy-focused, open-source note-taking and to-do app with end-to-end encryption and multi-device sync.

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Scratch

MIT

Scratch is a minimalist, offline-first markdown note-taking app for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Plain text files, keyboard-driven, with no cloud lock-in or account required.

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Side-by-side comparison

	Joplin	Scratch
License	—	MIT
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	56,173	1,564
Forks	6,255	150
Open Issues	620	77
Last Commit	Aug 30, 2026	Jul 28, 2026
First Released	Jan 16, 2017	Jan 31, 2026
Categories	Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools	Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools
Tags	#note taking #markdown #encryption #self hosted	#markdown #note taking #offline #cross-platform #desktop-app

GitHub stars over time

Joplin56,173

Scratch

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