Memos vs Shaarli

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureMemosShaarli
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseBookmarks & Read-It-Later
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguageGoPHP
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM64 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 62,093★ 3,888
First released20222013
ReplacesNotion, Google KeepPocket, Delicious

Why pick each one

Choose Memos if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Quick capture workflow
  • Simple deployment
Memos details

Choose Shaarli if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Easy to back up
  • Can be public or private
Shaarli details

Frequently asked questions

Is Memos or Shaarli 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 Shaarli free and open-source?

Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and Shaarli under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Memos and Shaarli with Docker?

Memos: yes. Shaarli: yes.

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