Memos vs Notable
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Memos | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 28 · At risk |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 63,295 | ★ 23,496 |
| First released | 2022 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Notion, Google Keep | Evernote, Notion |
What are Memos and Notable?
Memos
Memos is a lightweight, privacy-first note-taking service for quick notes and memos with a clean timeline interface. It targets individuals who want a fast personal microblog-style note tool. It is deployed via Docker as a single container.
- Fast Markdown memo timeline
- Tagging and filtering
- REST API
- Tiny single-binary footprint
Notable
Notable is a note-taking application that stores notes as plain Markdown files on disk. It offers a clean editor, tags, and full-text search while keeping all data in portable files.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Tag-based organization
- Full-text search
- Clean editor
Memos vs Notable: key differences
Memos is written in Go, while Notable is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Memos versus AGPL-3.0 for Notable. Memos is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Notable. Notable is the more established project (first released 2018), while Memos arrived in 2022. Memos has the considerably larger community, at 63,295 GitHub stars versus 23,496. Memos lists first-class Docker deployment; Notable does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Memos if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Quick capture workflow
- Simple deployment
Watch out for
- Not for long structured docs
- Limited organization features
Choose Notable if…
- Notes stay as portable files
- Simple and focused
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Desktop only
Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Notable 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 Memos and Notable free and open-source?
Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and Notable under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Memos and Notable with Docker?
Memos: yes. Notable: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Memos or Notable?
Memos has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Notable. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.