head to head · open source
Memos vs itsnotes
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars, 4,766 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. itsnotes has 32 stars, 3 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. Memos leads on adoption by 197,178% (63,129 vs 32 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; itsnotes is written in JavaScript under MIT. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, itsnotes 9%. Memos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (note-taking, self-hosted), 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 | itsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 32 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 3 |
| 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 itsnotes if
- You want the itsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and itsnotes 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 itsnotes
itsnotes is a self hosted, MIT licensed Google Keep replacement — built with React, Node.js, PostgreSQL and Socket.io — for people who like the sticky note masonry layout but need better navigation and organization, and who want their notes to stay on their own hardware.
read the full itsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or itsnotes more popular?
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars and itsnotes has 32. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and itsnotes free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and itsnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and itsnotes?
Memos is written in Go and itsnotes in JavaScript. 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 itsnotes?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose itsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.