Memos vs nb Notes
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 | nb Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 32 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 63,295 | ★ 8,410 |
| First released | 2022 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Notion, Google Keep | Evernote, Notion |
What are Memos and nb Notes?
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
nb Notes
nb is a command-line and local web tool for plain-text note-taking, bookmarking, and archiving with Git-backed versioning and syncing. It works entirely in the terminal and supports encryption.
- Plain-text notes and bookmarks
- Git-backed sync
- Optional encryption
- Tagging and search
Memos vs nb Notes: key differences
Memos is written in Go, while nb Notes is built with Shell. Licensing differs — MIT for Memos versus AGPL-3.0 for nb Notes. Nb Notes is the lighter option, starting around 32 MB of RAM against 64 MB for Memos. Nb Notes is the more established project (first released 2019), while Memos arrived in 2022. Memos has the considerably larger community, at 63,295 GitHub stars versus 8,410. Memos lists first-class Docker deployment; nb Notes 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 nb Notes if…
- Powerful for terminal users
- Versioned with Git
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- No graphical client
Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or nb Notes 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 nb Notes free and open-source?
Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and nb Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Memos and nb Notes with Docker?
Memos: yes. nb Notes: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Memos or nb Notes?
nb Notes has the smaller minimum footprint at 32 MB of RAM, compared to about 64 MB for Memos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.