Grimoire vs Pinry
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Grimoire
Archived
Bookmark manager for your reading list and inspiration
VS
Pinry
Tiling image board and bookmark system for visual collections
| Feature | Grimoire | Pinry |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 47 · Fair |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,856 | ★ 3,422 |
| First released | 2023 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Raindrop.io, Pocket | Pinterest, Raindrop.io |
What are Grimoire and Pinry?
Grimoire
Grimoire is a self-hosted bookmarking app for keeping track of links, articles, and inspiration. It organizes bookmarks into categories with tags, notes, and full-text search.
- Category and tag organization
- Notes on bookmarks
- Full-text search
Pinry
Pinry is a self-hosted tiling image board system for saving, tagging, and sharing images, videos, and web pages. It works as a visual bookmarking tool similar to Pinterest.
- Pinterest-style tiling board
- Save images and web pages
- Tagging and sharing
Grimoire vs Pinry: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Grimoire's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Pinry is actively maintained. Grimoire is written in TypeScript, while Pinry is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for Grimoire versus BSD-2-Clause for Pinry. Pinry is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Grimoire. Pinry is the more established project (first released 2012), while Grimoire arrived in 2023.
Why pick each one
Choose Grimoire if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Pinry if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Grimoire or Pinry better?
Neither is universally better. Pinry has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Grimoire and Pinry free and open-source?
Yes. Grimoire is licensed under MIT and Pinry under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Grimoire and Pinry with Docker?
Grimoire: yes. Pinry: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Grimoire or Pinry?
Pinry has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Grimoire. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.