head to head · open source
Memos vs Open-Notebook
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars, 4,766 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open-Notebook has 39,087 stars, 4,527 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Memos leads on adoption by 62% (63,129 vs 39,087 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Open-Notebook 12%. 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 | Open-Notebook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 39K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| 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 Open-Notebook if
- You want the Open-Notebook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Open-Notebook 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 Open-Notebook
Open Notebook is an open source, privacy focused research notebook that replicates and extends Google’s Notebook LM functionality. It runs locally or self hosted, letting users manage AI powered research workflows without surrendering data to cloud providers. Built with TypeScript, Next.js, React, SurrealDB, and LangChain, it targets researchers, students, and knowledge workers seeking control over their data and tools.
read the full Open-Notebook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Open-Notebook more popular?
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars and Open-Notebook has 39,087. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Open-Notebook free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and Open-Notebook under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and Open-Notebook?
Memos is written in Go and Open-Notebook 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 Open-Notebook?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Open-Notebook if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.