Memos vs Obsidian
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Obsidian
Local-first knowledge base on a folder of Markdown files
| Feature | Memos | Obsidian |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | Proprietary |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 63,295 | ★ 21,797 |
| First released | 2022 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Notion, Google Keep | Evernote, Notion, OneNote |
What are Memos and Obsidian?
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
Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful personal knowledge base that works on a local folder of plain Markdown files. While the app is proprietary, your notes remain fully local and portable, and self-hosted sync is possible via plugins.
- Plain Markdown file storage
- Bidirectional links and graph view
- Large community plugin ecosystem
- Local-first and private
Memos vs Obsidian: key differences
Memos is written in Go, while Obsidian is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Memos versus Proprietary for Obsidian. Memos is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Obsidian. Obsidian is the more established project (first released 2020), while Memos arrived in 2022. Memos has the considerably larger community, at 63,295 GitHub stars versus 21,797. Memos lists first-class Docker deployment; Obsidian 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 Obsidian if…
- Notes stay portable and local
- Highly extensible
Watch out for
- Core app is closed source
- Official sync is a paid service
Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Obsidian 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 Obsidian free and open-source?
Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and Obsidian under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Memos and Obsidian with Docker?
Memos: yes. Obsidian: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Memos or Obsidian?
Memos has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Obsidian. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.