mdSilo vs Memos

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturemdSiloMemos
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentsource, binarydocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 849★ 62,093
First released20222022
ReplacesObsidian, Roam ResearchNotion, Google Keep

Why pick each one

Choose mdSilo if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
mdSilo details

Choose Memos if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Quick capture workflow
  • Simple deployment
Memos details

Frequently asked questions

Is mdSilo or Memos better?

Neither is universally better. Memos has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are mdSilo and Memos free and open-source?

Yes. mdSilo is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Memos under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run mdSilo and Memos with Docker?

mdSilo: check the project docs for container support. Memos: yes.

Related comparisons