head to head · open source
Memos vs Tolaria
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars, 4,766 forks, 67 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tolaria has 19,807 stars, 1,381 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Memos leads on adoption by 219% (63,129 vs 19,807 stars). Memos is written in Go under MIT; Tolaria is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Memos has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Tolaria 7%. Memos was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Tolaria | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 20K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| 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 Tolaria if
- You want the Tolaria 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 Tolaria 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 Tolaria
Tolaria is an open source desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux, written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It manages markdown knowledge bases as local files, with each vault stored as a Git repository. The project lives in the personal knowledge management ecosystem as a local first, Git native tool for second brains, company documentation used as AI context, and assistant memory or procedures.
read the full Tolaria overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Memos or Tolaria more popular?
Memos has 63,129 GitHub stars and Tolaria has 19,807. Memos has the larger community by that measure.
Are Memos and Tolaria free?
Both are open source. Memos is licensed under MIT and Tolaria under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Memos and Tolaria?
Memos is written in Go and Tolaria 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 Tolaria?
Choose Memos if you want the larger community (63,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Tolaria if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.