head to head · open source
Memos vs QOwnNotes
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars, 4,935 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. QOwnNotes has 5,939 stars, 498 forks, 63 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memos leads on adoption by 982% (64,235 vs 5,939 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; QOwnNotes is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, QOwnNotes 8%. QOwnNotes 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 | QOwnNotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 498 |
| 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 QOwnNotes if
- You want the QOwnNotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and QOwnNotes 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 QOwnNotes
QOwnNotes Installation Changelog Issues Shortcuts Documentation Privacy Policy Screenshots Nextcloud API App ownCloud API App Matrix room Telegram Group IRC Chat Mastodon QOwnNotes Web Companion Firefox extension QOwnNotes Web Companion Chrome extension QOwnNotes Web App QOwnNotes Tor Hidden Service QOwnNotes is the open source notepad with Markdown support and todo list manager for GNU/Linux , macOS and Windows , that works together with Nextcloud Notes and ownCloud Notes . You are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device , like with QOwnNotes…
read the full QOwnNotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or QOwnNotes more popular?
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars and QOwnNotes has 5,939. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and QOwnNotes free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and QOwnNotes under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and QOwnNotes?
Memos is written in Go and QOwnNotes in C++. 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 QOwnNotes?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (64,235 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose QOwnNotes if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.