ArchiveBox vs Shiori
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
Shiori
Simple bookmark manager built with Go
| Feature | ArchiveBox | Shiori |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 97 · Excellent | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 28,580 | ★ 11,650 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Raindrop.io |
What are ArchiveBox and Shiori?
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
Shiori
Shiori is a simple bookmark manager that lets you save and organize web pages with offline archiving. It is distributed as a single portable binary with both a web UI and a CLI.
- Single portable binary
- Offline page archiving
- Web UI and CLI
ArchiveBox vs Shiori: key differences
ArchiveBox is written in Python, while Shiori is built with Go. Shiori is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for ArchiveBox. ArchiveBox has the considerably larger community, at 28,580 GitHub stars versus 11,650.
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 Shiori if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 11.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is ArchiveBox or Shiori better?
Neither is universally better. ArchiveBox has the larger community, while Shiori is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are ArchiveBox and Shiori free and open-source?
Yes. ArchiveBox is licensed under MIT and Shiori under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run ArchiveBox and Shiori with Docker?
ArchiveBox: yes. Shiori: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, ArchiveBox or Shiori?
Shiori has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for ArchiveBox. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.