head to head · open source
Memos vs iwe
Memos has 63,266 GitHub stars, 4,775 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped today. iwe has 1,715 stars, 88 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Memos leads on adoption by 3,589% (63,266 vs 1,715 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; iwe is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, iwe 5%. Memos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (markdown), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Memos | iwe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 88 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Memos if
- You weight community size — 63K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick iwe if
- You want the iwe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and iwe fits your workflow better
About Memos
Memos is an open source, self hosted note taking tool designed for rapid capture of short form content like daily logs, links, code snippets, and microblog style entries. It lives in the Go ecosystem and uses a Markdown native, timeline based interface. Unlike traditional note apps that enforce folders or rigid templates, Memos prioritizes speed and simplicity: users write in Markdown, attach media, and save without selecting titles or locations.
read the full Memos overview →
About iwe
IWE is a local first Rust tool that turns a directory of Markdown files into a knowledge graph, serving the same notes to your editor through a language server and to AI agents through a CLI and MCP server — it is built for anyone who wants database style queries over plain notes they continue to own.
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or iwe more popular?
Memos has 63,266 GitHub stars and iwe has 1,715. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and iwe free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and iwe under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and iwe?
Memos is written in Go and iwe in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Memos or iwe?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,266 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose iwe if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.