Karakeep vs omnom
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Karakeep
Self-hosted bookmark everything app with AI tagging
VS
omnom
Bookmarking with full-page snapshot archiving
| Feature | Karakeep | omnom |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 70 · Good |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,250 | ★ 665 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Raindrop.io | Pocket, Raindrop.io |
What are Karakeep and omnom?
Karakeep
Karakeep, formerly Hoarder, is a self-hosted app for bookmarking links, notes, and images with AI-powered automatic tagging and full-text search. It targets users who want a smart digital scrapbook. It is deployed via Docker.
- Bookmark links, notes and images
- AI-based automatic tagging
- Full-page archiving
- Mobile apps and extensions
omnom
omnom is a self-hosted bookmarking service that stores both the link and a full snapshot of the page at the time it was saved. This guarantees access to content even if the original page changes or disappears.
- Full-page snapshots
- Browser extension
- Tagging and search
- Multi-user support
Karakeep vs omnom: key differences
Karakeep is written in TypeScript, while omnom is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Karakeep versus MIT for omnom. Omnom is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Karakeep. Omnom is the more established project (first released 2020), while Karakeep arrived in 2024. Karakeep has the considerably larger community, at 29,250 GitHub stars versus 665.
Why pick each one
Choose Karakeep if…
- Smart AI tagging
- Archives full pages
- Polished apps
Watch out for
- Heavier than simple tools
- AI features need an API key
Choose omnom if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Snapshots use disk space
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Karakeep or omnom better?
Neither is universally better. Karakeep has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Karakeep and omnom free and open-source?
Yes. Karakeep is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and omnom under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Karakeep and omnom with Docker?
Karakeep: yes. omnom: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Karakeep or omnom?
omnom has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Karakeep. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.