Shaarli vs Wallabag
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted bookmarks & read-it-later options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Shaarli
Personal, minimalist link-sharing bookmark app
VS
Wallabag
Self-hosted read-it-later application
| Feature | Shaarli | Wallabag |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later | Bookmarks & Read-It-Later |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,899 | ★ 12,983 |
| First released | 2013 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Pocket, Delicious | Pocket, Instapaper |
What are Shaarli and Wallabag?
Shaarli
Shaarli is a personal, minimalist, database-free bookmarking application that can also act as a microblog of links. It targets individuals wanting a lightweight link log. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- No database, flat-file storage
- Public and private links
- Tagging and RSS feed
- Plugin support
Wallabag
Wallabag is a self-hosted read-it-later application that saves web articles in a clean, distraction-free format for later reading. It targets readers who want to own their reading list. It is deployed via Docker or a PHP stack.
- Clean article extraction
- Tagging and annotations
- Mobile apps and extensions
- Export to ePub and PDF
Shaarli vs Wallabag: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Shaarli versus MIT for Wallabag. Shaarli is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Wallabag. Wallabag has the considerably larger community, at 12,983 GitHub stars versus 3,899.
Why pick each one
Choose Shaarli if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Easy to back up
- Can be public or private
Watch out for
- Dated default theme
- Single-user only
Choose Wallabag if…
- Great read-it-later experience
- Own your reading list
- Apps available
Watch out for
- Requires a database
- Article parsing occasionally fails
Frequently asked questions
Is Shaarli or Wallabag better?
Neither is universally better. Wallabag has the larger community, while Shaarli is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Shaarli and Wallabag free and open-source?
Yes. Shaarli is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Wallabag under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Shaarli and Wallabag with Docker?
Shaarli: yes. Wallabag: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Shaarli or Wallabag?
Shaarli has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Wallabag. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.