Memos vs NoteDiscovery
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
| Feature | Memos | NoteDiscovery |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 63,295 | ★ 2,812 |
| First released | 2022 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Notion, Google Keep | Obsidian, Notion |
What are Memos and NoteDiscovery?
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
NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery is a self-hosted Markdown knowledge base featuring wikilinks, a graph view, a drawing editor, and LaTeX and Mermaid rendering. It is designed for building and exploring a connected personal knowledge base.
- Wikilinks and graph view
- Drawing editor
- LaTeX and Mermaid support
- Self-hosted knowledge base
Memos vs NoteDiscovery: key differences
Memos is written in Go, while NoteDiscovery is built with JavaScript. Memos is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for NoteDiscovery. Memos is the more established project (first released 2022), while NoteDiscovery arrived in 2024. Memos has the considerably larger community, at 63,295 GitHub stars versus 2,812.
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 NoteDiscovery if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or NoteDiscovery better?
Memos is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider NoteDiscovery if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Memos and NoteDiscovery free and open-source?
Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and NoteDiscovery under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Memos and NoteDiscovery with Docker?
Memos: yes. NoteDiscovery: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Memos or NoteDiscovery?
Memos has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for NoteDiscovery. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.