head to head · open source
Memos vs Darkwrite
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars, 4,935 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Darkwrite has 320 stars, 15 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 19 days ago. Memos leads on adoption by 19,973% (64,235 vs 320 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Darkwrite is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Darkwrite 5%. Memos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Darkwrite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 320 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 15 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Memos if
- You weight community size — 64K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Darkwrite if
- You want the Darkwrite 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 Darkwrite fits your workflow better
About Memos
✨ Featured sponsor: CodeRabbit — Industry leading AI code reviews. Memos Fast enough for every thought. Private enough for all of them. Memos is an open source, self hosted home for short form thinking. Daily notes, links, work logs, and snippets flow into a chronological Markdown timeline—on infrastructure you control, without the overhead of an all in one workspace. Run with Docker · Try the live demo · Read the docs Why Memos? Capture quickly — Write in Markdown, attach media, and save without choosing a title, folder, or template. Organize lightly — Revisit notes through the timeline, search, tags, and pins…
read the full Memos overview →
About Darkwrite
Follow on Twitter Download Darkwrite Report bugs 📓 Take notes the way you want. ✒️ Darkwrite lets you take notes without getting in your way. Head over to the releases page to get started. ⭐ Star this repository to know when we release new updates. 🖊️ Just start typing. 🖋️ Unleash the power of a rich editor which supports formatting, headings, todo lists, numbered lists, links, images, tables and much more. 🖌️ Make it yours. 🎨 Choose from the selection of included themes or create your own. Say goodbye to boring light and dark themes. ✒️ Pick the fonts you like. You can change the default styles for your…
read the full Darkwrite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Darkwrite more popular?
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars and Darkwrite has 320. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Darkwrite free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and Darkwrite under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and Darkwrite?
Memos is written in Go and Darkwrite 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 Darkwrite?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (64,235 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Darkwrite if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.