AppFlowy Cloud vs Memos
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | AppFlowy Cloud | Memos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 100 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,003 | ★ 63,265 |
| First released | 2023 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Notion | Notion, Google Keep |
What are AppFlowy Cloud and Memos?
AppFlowy Cloud
AppFlowy Cloud is the self-hostable backend service that powers collaboration and sync for the AppFlowy open-source workspace and note-taking application. It lets teams keep documents and data on their own servers.
- Self-hosted sync backend
- Real-time collaboration
- Document storage
- Open-source server
Memos
Memos is a lightweight, privacy-first note-taking service for quick notes and memos with a clean timeline interface. It targets individuals who want a fast personal microblog-style note tool. It is deployed via Docker as a single container.
- Fast Markdown memo timeline
- Tagging and filtering
- REST API
- Tiny single-binary footprint
AppFlowy Cloud vs Memos: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: AppFlowy Cloud's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Memos is actively maintained. AppFlowy Cloud is written in Rust, while Memos is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for AppFlowy Cloud versus MIT for Memos. Memos is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for AppFlowy Cloud. Memos has the considerably larger community, at 63,265 GitHub stars versus 2,003.
Why pick each one
Choose AppFlowy Cloud if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Choose Memos if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Quick capture workflow
- Simple deployment
Watch out for
- Not for long structured docs
- Limited organization features
Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy Cloud or Memos better?
Memos is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider AppFlowy Cloud if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are AppFlowy Cloud and Memos free and open-source?
Yes. AppFlowy Cloud is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Memos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AppFlowy Cloud and Memos with Docker?
AppFlowy Cloud: yes. Memos: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, AppFlowy Cloud or Memos?
Memos has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for AppFlowy Cloud. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.