head to head · open source
Memos vs Justnote
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars, 4,935 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Justnote has 67 stars, 6 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. Memos leads on adoption by 95,773% (64,235 vs 67 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Justnote is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Justnote 9%. Memos 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 | Justnote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 67 |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-02-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 6 |
| 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 Justnote if
- You want the Justnote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Justnote 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 Justnote
Justnote Justnote is a privacy focused note taking app that you can use easily, take notes rapidly, and, importantly, truly own your account and data. 🎨 Features End to end encryption with the decryption key only you know Available on the web, Android, and iOS Nested lists (folders), pin to the top, tags, lock lists & notes, and dark mode 📸 Screenshots 🖇️ More Links Support FAQs Documentation Blog 🤖 Tech Stack Web: React, Redux, TailwindCSS, Stacks, CKEditor Mobile: React Native 💻 Run Locally Clone the project Go to the web or mobile directory Install dependencies Start the server ❤️ Feedback and…
read the full Justnote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Justnote more popular?
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars and Justnote has 67. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Justnote free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and Justnote under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and Justnote?
Memos is written in Go and Justnote 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 Justnote?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (64,235 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Justnote if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.