Servas vs Shiori
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 | Servas | Shiori |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 66 · Good | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Svelte | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 831 | ★ 11,650 |
| First released | 2022 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Raindrop.io, Pinboard | Pocket, Raindrop.io |
What are Servas and Shiori?
Servas
Servas is a self-hosted application for managing bookmarks alongside notes and tags. Built with Laravel and Livewire, it lets you group links and attach contextual notes for personal knowledge management.
- Bookmarks with attached notes
- Tag and group organization
- Built with Laravel and Livewire
- Self-hosted single instance
Shiori
Shiori is a simple bookmark manager that lets you save and organize web pages with offline archiving. It is distributed as a single portable binary with both a web UI and a CLI.
- Single portable binary
- Offline page archiving
- Web UI and CLI
Servas vs Shiori: key differences
Servas is written in Svelte, while Shiori is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Servas versus MIT for Shiori. Shiori is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Servas. Shiori is the more established project (first released 2017), while Servas arrived in 2022. Shiori has the considerably larger community, at 11,650 GitHub stars versus 831.
Why pick each one
Choose Servas if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Svelte
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose Shiori if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 11.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Servas or Shiori better?
Shiori is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Servas if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Servas and Shiori free and open-source?
Yes. Servas is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Shiori under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Servas and Shiori with Docker?
Servas: yes. Shiori: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Servas or Shiori?
Shiori has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Servas. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.