Memos vs QST
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?
Compare Memos with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Mark Text Joplin Plane SiYuan Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Omnivore OpenProject Notesnook Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz VNote Wallabag MarkText Workspace Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Buku Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Atomic Server Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes WiseMapping MyTetra Mindwendel LibreKB Digimindmap memEx
Compare QST with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Mark Text Joplin SiYuan Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes
Feature Memos QST Category Notes & Knowledge Base Notes & Knowledge Base License MIT GPL-2.0 Language Go Perl Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 64 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, binary bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 62,093 — First released 2022 2020 Replaces Notion, Google Keep —
Why pick each one
Choose Memos if… Extremely lightweight Quick capture workflow Simple deployment Memos details Choose QST if… Released under the GPL-2.0 license Written in Perl Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM QST details
Frequently asked questions Is Memos or QST better? Memos is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider QST if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Memos and QST free and open-source? Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and QST under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Memos and QST with Docker? Memos: yes. QST: check the project docs for container support.