Espial vs Promnesia
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Espial
Open-source self-hosted bookmarking inspired by Pinboard
VS
Promnesia
Browser extension that turns your history into a memory aid
| Feature | Espial | Promnesia |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Haskell | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 906 | ★ 1,889 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Pinboard, Pocket | Pocket, Raindrop.io |
Why pick each one
Choose Espial if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Haskell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Promnesia if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Espial or Promnesia better?
Neither is universally better. Promnesia has the larger community, while Espial is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Espial and Promnesia free and open-source?
Yes. Espial is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Promnesia under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Espial and Promnesia with Docker?
Espial: yes. Promnesia: check the project docs for container support.