Promnesia vs Readeck
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Readeck
Save and read web content in a personal library
| Feature | Promnesia | Readeck |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,900 | ★ 1,100 |
| First released | 2019 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Raindrop.io | Pocket, Instapaper |
What are Promnesia and Readeck?
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
Readeck
Readeck is a self-hosted application that lets you save web articles and pages into a clean, searchable personal reading library. It targets readers who want a simple read-it-later tool. It is deployed via Docker or a binary.
- Clean article reading view
- Highlights and labels
- E-book export
- Lightweight single binary
Promnesia vs Readeck: key differences
Promnesia is written in Python, while Readeck is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Promnesia versus AGPL-3.0 for Readeck. Promnesia is the more established project (first released 2019), while Readeck arrived in 2023. Readeck 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 Readeck if…
- Simple and lightweight
- Nice reading experience
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Younger project
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Promnesia or Readeck better?
Neither is universally better. Promnesia has the larger community, while Readeck is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Promnesia and Readeck free and open-source?
Yes. Promnesia is licensed under MIT and Readeck under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Promnesia and Readeck with Docker?
Promnesia: check the project docs for container support. Readeck: yes.