head to head · open source
Karakeep vs Linkwarden
Karakeep has 30,248 GitHub stars, 1,618 forks, 726 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Linkwarden has 20,295 stars, 887 forks, 662 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Karakeep leads on adoption by 49% (30,248 vs 20,295 stars). Karakeep is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Linkwarden is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Karakeep has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Linkwarden 4%. Karakeep was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (bookmark-manager, nextjs, react-native, read-it-later), 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
| Karakeep | Linkwarden | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 20K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 887 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Karakeep if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Linkwarden if
- You want the Linkwarden feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Linkwarden fits your workflow better
About Karakeep
Karakeep (previously Hoarder) is a self hostable bookmark everything app with a touch of AI for the data hoarders out there. Features Bookmark links, take simple notes and store images and pdfs. Automatic fetching for link titles, descriptions and images. Sort your bookmarks into lists. Collaborate with others on the same list. Full text & semantic search of all the content stored. LLM based automatic tagging and summarization. With supports for local models using ollama! LLM Agents (e.g. OpenClaw, Hermes) friendly with powerful CLI, and official skills. Rule based engine for customized management. OCR for…
read the full Karakeep overview →
About Linkwarden
Linkwarden Bookmarks, Evolved « LAUNCH DEMO » Cloud · Website · Self Host · Docs Intro & motivation Linkwarden is a self hosted, open source collaborative bookmark manager to collect, read, annotate, and fully preserve what matters, all in one place. The objective is to organize useful webpages and articles you find across the web in one place, and since useful webpages can go away (see the inevitability of Link Rot), Linkwarden also saves a copy of each webpage as a Screenshot and PDF, ensuring accessibility even if the original content is no longer available. In addition to preservation, Linkwarden provides a…
read the full Linkwarden overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Karakeep or Linkwarden more popular?
Karakeep has 30,248 GitHub stars and Linkwarden has 20,295. Karakeep has the larger community by that measure.
Are Karakeep and Linkwarden free?
Both are open source. Karakeep is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Linkwarden under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Karakeep and Linkwarden?
Karakeep is written in TypeScript and Linkwarden 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, Karakeep or Linkwarden?
Choose Karakeep if you want the larger community (30,248 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Linkwarden if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.