Karakeep vs Wallabag
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
Wallabag
Self-hosted read-it-later application
| Feature | Karakeep | Wallabag |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 29,250 | ★ 12,983 |
| First released | 2024 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Raindrop.io | Pocket, Instapaper |
What are Karakeep and Wallabag?
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
Wallabag
Wallabag is a self-hosted read-it-later application that saves web articles in a clean, distraction-free format for later reading. It targets readers who want to own their reading list. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Clean article extraction
- Tagging and annotations
- Mobile apps and extensions
- Export to ePub and PDF
Karakeep vs Wallabag: key differences
Karakeep is written in TypeScript, while Wallabag is built with PHP. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Karakeep versus MIT for Wallabag. Wallabag is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Karakeep. Wallabag is the more established project (first released 2013), while Karakeep arrived in 2024. Karakeep has the considerably larger community, at 29,250 GitHub stars versus 12,983.
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 Wallabag if…
- Great read-it-later experience
- Own your reading list
- Apps available
Watch out for
- Requires a database
- Article parsing occasionally fails
Frequently asked questions
Is Karakeep or Wallabag 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 Wallabag free and open-source?
Yes. Karakeep is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Wallabag under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Karakeep and Wallabag with Docker?
Karakeep: yes. Wallabag: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Karakeep or Wallabag?
Wallabag has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Karakeep. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.