Karakeep 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.
Karakeep
Self-hosted bookmark everything app with AI tagging
VS
Shiori
Simple bookmark manager built with Go
| Feature | Karakeep | Shiori |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,250 | ★ 11,650 |
| First released | 2024 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Raindrop.io | Pocket, Raindrop.io |
What are Karakeep and Shiori?
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
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
Karakeep vs Shiori: key differences
Karakeep is written in TypeScript, while Shiori is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Karakeep versus MIT for Shiori. Shiori is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Karakeep. Shiori is the more established project (first released 2017), while Karakeep arrived in 2024. Karakeep has the considerably larger community, at 29,250 GitHub stars versus 11,650.
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 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 Karakeep or Shiori better?
Neither is universally better. Karakeep 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 Karakeep and Shiori free and open-source?
Yes. Karakeep is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Shiori under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Karakeep and Shiori with Docker?
Karakeep: yes. Shiori: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Karakeep or Shiori?
Shiori has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Karakeep. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.