head to head · open source
Memos vs Joplin
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars, 4,766 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin has 56,416 stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memos leads on adoption by 12% (63,129 vs 56,416 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Joplin 11%. Joplin was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (note-taking), 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.
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Side by side
| Memos | Joplin | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 56K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 6.3K |
| 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 Joplin if
- You want the Joplin feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Joplin 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 Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source, privacy focused note taking and to do application that keeps notes as Markdown on your own device and synchronises them, end to end encrypted, across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
read the full Joplin overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Joplin more popular?
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars and Joplin has 56,416. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Joplin free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT, and Joplin has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Memos and Joplin?
Memos is written in Go and Joplin in TypeScript. 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 Joplin?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Joplin if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.