GotoNotes vs LibHunt vs Project Awesome
All three sites index GitHub's "awesome-list" repos, curated READMEs of libraries and tools organized by topic. None requires a signup, and switching between them costs nothing. The real differences are in scope, how each one ranks what it shows, and whether it tells you when the data was last checked. This page states them plainly, checked directly against both sites on 2026-07-24, not carried over from an old research pass.
The short answer
Project Awesome has the widest library, 696 collections by its own count, spanning nearly every technology area. LibHunt goes deeper on individual languages, its Python tracker alone lists well over a thousand projects, and layers in a mentions-based trending score plus an "alternatives" finder that neither GotoNotes nor Project Awesome offers. GotoNotes is narrower than both: 13 hand-picked topics, 123repos as of the 2026-07-23 snapshot. What it does instead of chasing coverage is show a real last-push date on every single row, next to the star count, so you can judge freshness yourself instead of trusting a badge. If breadth is what you need, Project Awesome or LibHunt cover more ground. If you specifically want to check whether a list is still maintained without opening each repo yourself, that's the one thing GotoNotes does that the other two, as checked directly on 2026-07-24, don't surface the same way.
What each site actually is
GotoNotes queries the GitHub Search API for repos tagged with the real GitHub topic awesome-list, crossed with a hand-picked topic keyword, and snapshots the result: name, description, star count, and last-push date, sorted by stars. Topics are editorial choices; the repos inside each one are not hand-picked.
LibHunt bills itself as a site for "trending open-source projects and their alternatives." It runs per-language awesome-list mirrors, nodejs.libhunt.com, python.libhunt.com, go.libhunt.com, rust.libhunt.com, and more, plus a broader alternatives-finder that suggests similar projects to whatever you search for. Its ranking leans on mentions across Reddit, Hacker News, and dev.to, tracked close to real time by its own description, not on GitHub star count alone.
Project Awesome is the largest by raw count: its own homepage states 696 curated collections "covering every technology," organized by platform, language, and domain (Node.js, Rust, Kubernetes, machine learning, and hundreds more). Each collection shows a star count. No signup wall, a "Support us" crypto-donation link, and a separate advertising page sit in its navigation.
Side by side
| Dimension | GotoNotes | LibHunt | Project Awesome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | Only the GitHub awesome-list topic tag | Awesome-lists plus a broader trending/alternatives tracker | Curated OSS collections across "every technology" |
| How it's ranked | Live GitHub star count at snapshot time | Social mentions (Reddit, HN, dev.to), near real time | Star count, no public ranking method stated |
| Last-push date shown | Yes, on every repo row | Not on the tracker pages checked | Not on the collection pages checked |
| Size (as checked) | 13 topics, 123 repos, snapshot 2026-07-23 | Dozens of per-language trackers, over a thousand projects for major languages | 696 collections |
| Extra tooling | None | Alternatives finder, GitHub-style domain shortcuts | Search, light/dark toggle |
| Ads on the directory | None live yet | Runs a public advertising program | Advertising link, crypto donations |
| Signup required | No | No | No |
Pick the one that fits what you actually need
Pick GotoNotes if the last-push date matters to you as much as the star count, and you'd rather scan a smaller, hand-picked set of topics than search a library of hundreds.
Pick LibHunt if you want a trending/mentions signal on top of raw popularity, or you're specifically hunting for alternatives to a project you already use.
Pick Project Awesome if raw coverage matters most and you're searching across a technology area GotoNotes hasn't built a topic page for yet.
None of this is exclusive. Bookmarking more than one costs nothing, and the fastest way to find out which fits a specific search is to try the same query on two of them.
Frequently asked questions
Is GotoNotes just a copy of libhunt.com or project-awesome.org?
No, but it also isn't pretending to be first to this space. Both sites cover the same broad category, an index of GitHub's awesome-list repos, and have been doing it longer. GotoNotes exists because the format is cheap to build well and there's room for a narrower, plainly snapshot-dated version, not because of some feature neither of them has.
Which site lists the most awesome lists?
Project Awesome, by a wide margin. Its own homepage states 696 collections spanning nearly every technology area. GotoNotes covers 13 hand-picked topics and 123 repos as of its 2026-07-23 snapshot, a much smaller, narrower set on purpose, since each topic is chosen editorially rather than aiming for full coverage.
Does GotoNotes rank repos by the same method as libhunt.com?
No. LibHunt's per-language trackers weigh mentions on Reddit, Hacker News, and dev.to, described on its own pages as monitored almost in real time, alongside an alternatives-finder feature. GotoNotes sorts strictly by live GitHub star count at snapshot time. Neither method is wrong; they answer different questions, buzz versus raw popularity.
Does GotoNotes show a last-push or last-updated date like the other two?
GotoNotes shows one on every single repo row, alongside the star count. Checking libhunt.com and project-awesome.org directly on the date above, neither surfaced an equivalent last-push date field on their listing pages, only star counts and, for libhunt, a mentions figure. See the freshness guide for why that date matters more than a star count alone.
Does GotoNotes run ads like libhunt.com or project-awesome.org?
Not yet. libhunt.com runs a dedicated advertising program (a public advertise page). project-awesome.org carries an advertising link and a crypto-donation option in its navigation. GotoNotes has no ads, no affiliate links, and no signup wall live today; see About for what that could look like later.
Can I just use more than one of these sites?
Yes. None of the three requires an account, and switching costs nothing. Plenty of developers bookmark more than one directory and check whichever surfaces the right repo fastest for a given topic.
Where to go next
Browse all 13 topics to see the full set GotoNotes indexes today, or read how GotoNotes sources its data for the mechanics behind every number on this page.