head to head · open source
Memos vs Outline
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars, 4,766 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Outline has 40,590 stars, 3,562 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memos leads on adoption by 56% (63,129 vs 40,590 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Outline is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Outline 9%. Memos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (docker, 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 | Outline | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 41K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 3.6K |
| 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 Outline if
- You want the Outline feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Outline 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 Outline
Outline is an open source knowledge base application built with React and Node.js, designed for teams needing a fast, collaborative documentation platform. It runs as a self hosted service or via a hosted option at getoutline.com, and its source code powers the public instance along with all supporting services. The project lives in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystem and uses MobX for state management.
read the full Outline overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Outline more popular?
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars and Outline has 40,590. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Outline free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT, and Outline has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Memos and Outline?
Memos is written in Go and Outline 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 Outline?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Outline if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.