head to head · open source
Memos vs Paperling
Memos has 63,355 GitHub stars, 4,787 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paperling has 568 stars, 40 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memos leads on adoption by 11,054% (63,355 vs 568 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%. Paperling was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (markdown, note-taking, react), 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 | ★ 63K | ★ 568 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-09-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 40 |
| 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 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
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 Paperling
Paperling is a minimal, distraction free Markdown reader and editor built with Tauri, React, and TypeScript for developers and note takers who want to open a single .md file, read it rendered beautifully, and edit it with live preview instead of managing a vault.
read the full Paperling overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Paperling more popular?
Memos has 63,355 GitHub stars and Paperling has 568. 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 (63,355 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Paperling if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.