Promnesia vs Pinry
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Promnesia | Pinry |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 47 · Fair |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,900 | ★ 3,422 |
| First released | 2019 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Raindrop.io | Pinterest, Raindrop.io |
What are Promnesia and Pinry?
Promnesia
Promnesia is a browser extension and backend that helps you remember which pages you have visited and how. It connects your browsing history with bookmarks, notes, and other tools.
- Annotates pages you have visited
- Connects history with notes
- Local data ownership
Pinry
Pinry is a self-hosted tiling image board system for saving, tagging, and sharing images, videos, and web pages. It works as a visual bookmarking tool similar to Pinterest.
- Pinterest-style tiling board
- Save images and web pages
- Tagging and sharing
Promnesia vs Pinry: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — MIT for Promnesia versus BSD-2-Clause for Pinry. Pinry is the more established project (first released 2012), while Promnesia arrived in 2019. Pinry lists first-class Docker deployment; Promnesia does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Promnesia if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Pinry if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Promnesia or Pinry better?
Pinry is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Promnesia if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Promnesia and Pinry free and open-source?
Yes. Promnesia is licensed under MIT and Pinry under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Promnesia and Pinry with Docker?
Promnesia: check the project docs for container support. Pinry: yes.