head to head · open source
Memos vs Standard Notes
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars, 4,935 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Standard Notes has 6,695 stars, 565 forks, 99 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memos leads on adoption by 859% (64,235 vs 6,695 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Standard Notes is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Standard Notes 8%. Standard Notes 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, notes), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Memos | Standard Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 6.7K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.9K | ⑂ 565 |
| 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 Standard Notes if
- You want the Standard Notes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Standard Notes 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 Standard Notes
Standard Notes Standard Notes is an end to end encrypted note taking app for digitalists and professionals. Capture your notes, files, and life’s work all in one secure place. Why Standard Notes? End to end encrypted sync. Only you can read your notes. Fast, free, and encrypted cross platform sync on unlimited devices. Public source code with ability to self host your own server in a few easy steps. A strong focus on longevity and sustainability. Learn more. Creating your private notes account 1. Launch the web app at app.standardnotes.com. 2. Click Register to create your private notes account. 3. Download…
read the full Standard Notes overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Standard Notes more popular?
Memos has 64,235 GitHub stars and Standard Notes has 6,695. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Standard Notes free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and Standard Notes under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and Standard Notes?
Memos is written in Go and Standard Notes 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 Standard Notes?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (64,235 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Standard Notes if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.