head to head · open source
Memos vs reflect-open
Memos has 63,460 GitHub stars, 4,801 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. reflect-open has 1,530 stars, 123 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped today. Memos leads on adoption by 4,048% (63,460 vs 1,530 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; reflect-open is written in TypeScript under MIT. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, reflect-open 8%. reflect-open 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 | reflect-open | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 123 |
| 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 reflect-open if
- You want the reflect-open feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and reflect-open 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 reflect-open
Reflect open is an open source, local first rewrite of Reflect for people who want a Markdown based note taking app on Mac and iPhone that AI agents and other tools can read, edit, and script directly.
read the full reflect-open overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or reflect-open more popular?
Memos has 63,460 GitHub stars and reflect-open has 1,530. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and reflect-open free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and reflect-open under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and reflect-open?
Memos is written in Go and reflect-open 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 reflect-open?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,460 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose reflect-open if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.