ArchiveBox vs Archivy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
ArchiveBox
Self-hosted web archiving from bookmarks and feeds
VS
Archivy
Self-hosted knowledge repository for bookmarks and notes
| Feature | ArchiveBox | Archivy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 19 · At risk |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,580 | ★ 3,277 |
| First released | 2017 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Evernote |
What are ArchiveBox and Archivy?
ArchiveBox
ArchiveBox is a powerful self-hosted internet archiving tool that saves snapshots of webpages from URLs, bookmarks, and feeds. It targets users who want permanent, offline copies of pages. It is deployed via Docker.
- Saves HTML, PDF, screenshots and more
- Imports from many sources
- Self-hosted permanent archive
- Multiple extraction methods
Archivy
Archivy is a self-hostable knowledge repository that lets you preserve useful web pages and notes so they are accessible and searchable offline. Saved bookmarks have their full content archived and indexed for full-text search.
- Full content archiving
- Offline searchable
- Markdown notes
- Extensible plugins
ArchiveBox vs Archivy: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Archivy is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for ArchiveBox. ArchiveBox is the more established project (first released 2017), while Archivy arrived in 2020. ArchiveBox has the considerably larger community, at 28,580 GitHub stars versus 3,277.
Why pick each one
Choose ArchiveBox if…
- Thorough page preservation
- Imports from many sources
- Open formats
Watch out for
- Storage hungry
- Setup can be involved
Choose Archivy if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is ArchiveBox or Archivy better?
Neither is universally better. ArchiveBox has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are ArchiveBox and Archivy free and open-source?
Yes. ArchiveBox is licensed under MIT and Archivy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ArchiveBox and Archivy with Docker?
ArchiveBox: yes. Archivy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, ArchiveBox or Archivy?
Archivy has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for ArchiveBox. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.