head to head · open source
Memos vs Paperling
Memos has 64,405 GitHub stars, 4,953 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paperling has 598 stars, 40 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Memos leads on adoption by 10,670% (64,405 vs 598 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Paperling is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Paperling 7%. Memos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (markdown, 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 | Paperling | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 598 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-11 | 2026-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.0K | ⑂ 40 |
| 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 Paperling if
- You want the Paperling feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Paperling 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 Paperling
Paperling A no setup Markdown reader and editor. Open any .md file and read it beautifully, edit with live preview (math, chemistry, and diagrams as you type), and use an optional free AI that proposes edits you accept or reject inline. No vaults, no plugins, no heavy app. Built with Tauri, React, and TypeScript. ⬇ Download · Website · Features · Contribute 📱 Now on Android — get the APK from the releases page . Why Paperling? As a developer, I frequently work with markdown files for documentation, notes, and project READMEs. The frustration of opening .md files in Notepad or basic text editors, only to see…
read the full Paperling overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Paperling more popular?
Memos has 64,405 GitHub stars and Paperling has 598. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Paperling free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and Paperling under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and Paperling?
Memos is written in Go and Paperling 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 Paperling?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (64,405 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Paperling if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.