BookStack 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.
BookStack
Simple self-hosted documentation and wiki platform
VS
Memos
Lightweight self-hosted note and memo hub
| Feature | BookStack | Memos |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 19,050 | ★ 63,295 |
| First released | 2017 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Confluence, Notion | Notion, Google Keep |
What are BookStack and Memos?
BookStack
BookStack is a self-hosted platform for organizing and storing documentation in a books, chapters, and pages structure. It targets teams that want an approachable wiki without complexity. It is deployed via Docker or a LAMP stack.
- Books, chapters and pages structure
- WYSIWYG and Markdown editors
- Roles, permissions and SSO
- Full-text search
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
BookStack vs Memos: key differences
BookStack is written in PHP, while Memos is built with Go. Memos is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for BookStack. BookStack is the more established project (first released 2017), while Memos arrived in 2022. Memos has the considerably larger community, at 63,295 GitHub stars versus 19,050.
Why pick each one
Choose BookStack if…
- Very easy to learn
- Clean organized structure
- Good permissions
Watch out for
- Rigid structure for some
- Fewer integrations than rivals
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 BookStack or Memos better?
Neither is universally better. Memos has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are BookStack and Memos free and open-source?
Yes. BookStack is licensed under MIT and Memos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BookStack and Memos with Docker?
BookStack: yes. Memos: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, BookStack or Memos?
Memos has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for BookStack. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.