Khoj vs Shaarli

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureKhojShaarli
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseBookmarks & Read-It-Later
LicenseAGPL-3.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePythonPHP
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM2,048 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 36,386★ 3,888
First released20212013
ReplacesNotion AI, EvernotePocket, Delicious

Why pick each one

Choose Khoj if…

  • Turns notes into an AI knowledge base
  • Supports local LLMs
Khoj details

Choose Shaarli if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Easy to back up
  • Can be public or private
Shaarli details

Frequently asked questions

Is Khoj or Shaarli better?

Neither is universally better. Khoj has the larger community, while Shaarli is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Khoj and Shaarli free and open-source?

Yes. Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Shaarli under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Khoj and Shaarli with Docker?

Khoj: yes. Shaarli: yes.

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