Evernote vs Memos
Memos is a direct open-source alternative for core note capture and retrieval. It documents a graphical web interface, Markdown notes, web clipping, and self-hosted deployment, but does not document multimedia note types, notebooks, tags, templates, advanced search, synchronization, or offline access.
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Memos if
- Self-hosting and control of your data are a priority and Memos covers your required workflows. Its source code uses the MIT license.
Stay with Evernote if
- You rely on capabilities that are different, missing, or not yet documented for Memos.
Feature fit
What Memos covers
- Note capture and storage
- Markdown-based note authoring
- Web clipping
- Self-hosted data management
What’s different or missing
- Documented capture of audio, scans, sketches, and general document attachments
- Notebooks, tags, and templates
- Advanced or AI-powered search
- Cross-platform synchronization and offline access
- Tasks within notes
- Calendar-linked notes
- Sharing and real-time editing
- AI assistant and transcription
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 62,267
- Contributors
- 385
- Language
- Go
- Last commit
- Aug 13, 2026
- Latest release
- Jul 26, 2026
Categories: Knowledge Management, Note Taking, File Sync & Storage, Calendars & Scheduling, Document Collaboration, Task Management
Sources and editorial review5 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
Memos is an open-source, self-hosted note-taking app built for quick capture.
readme · github.comA timeline-first interface keeps note-taking simple: open, write, and move on.
readme · github.comSave pages, selected text, and images directly to your Memos instance with the official Memos Web Clipper.
readme · github.comRun a single Go binary or Docker container with SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL.
readme · github.comKubernetes — Helm charts and manifests are available.
readme · github.com
