Memos vs TriliumNext Notes

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureMemosTriliumNext Notes
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, kubernetes
GitHub stars★ 62,093★ 37,298
First released20222026
ReplacesNotion, Google Keep

Why pick each one

Choose Memos if…

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

Choose TriliumNext Notes if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 37.3k GitHub stars
TriliumNext Notes details

Frequently asked questions

Is Memos or TriliumNext Notes better?

Memos is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider TriliumNext Notes if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Memos and TriliumNext Notes free and open-source?

Yes. Memos is licensed under MIT and TriliumNext Notes under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Memos and TriliumNext Notes with Docker?

Memos: yes. TriliumNext Notes: yes.

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