Memos
A self-hosted, open-source notes app that keeps your daily thoughts in a personal timeline.
- Stars
- 64.2k
- Forks
- 4.9k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Go
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- App
What it is
Memos is a note-taking app you run on your own server. You write short or long entries (using Markdown for formatting), and they appear in a timeline by date, with tags linking related thoughts. The project says your data stays on your server and you choose what is private, shared with others, or published on the web.
- Capture a quick thought in one sentence, or write a longer Markdown entry
- Tag related entries and find them again later on the timeline
- Clip web pages and selections to Memos with the Web Clipper browser extension
- Send messages and images to Memos through the Telegram bot integration
- Connect your own scripts or AI tools through the API or MCP server
Great for
- People who want a private, self-hosted journal or quick-notes timeline
- Anyone who wants to keep their notes on their own server rather than a hosted service
- People comfortable running a Docker container to host an app
- Small groups who want shared spaces where each person keeps their own memos
Not ideal for
- People who want zero setup and prefer a hosted service; you must run and maintain the server yourself
- People who need a full wiki or document-organizing system, since the README describes a timeline-based model
- Users who need guaranteed backups; the README only says to back up the ~/.memos folder
How to get it
- 1
Run with Docker
You'll need: Docker
Run Memos with Docker
docker run -d \ --name memos \ -p 5230:5230 \ -v ~/.memos:/var/opt/memos \ neosmemo/memos:stable - 2
Run it
- Run the Docker command from the Quick start section
- Open http://localhost:5230 in your browser
- Create the first account
- Start writing memos; your data is stored in ~/.memos
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Install the Web Clipper for Chrome or Firefox to save pages as Markdown with a source link
- Use the Memogram Telegram bot to save messages and images
- Use the API or MCP server to connect Memos to your own scripts and AI tools
- Use the deployment guide for Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or a plain binary setups
Downloads
Strengths
- Data is stored on your own server, per the README
- Runs from a single Docker command with one folder to back up
- Open source under the MIT License
Trade-offs
- You must host and maintain it yourself, including upgrades
- Upgrading from releases before v0.31.0 requires an extra step described in the upgrade docs
- The README is truncated, so details on security hardening and backups are not covered here
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| memos (this) | 64.2k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | People who want a private, self-hosted journal or quick-notes timeline |
| uptime-kuma | 93.2k | App | beginner | 4 days ago | People who want to monitor their own websites or services without paying a hosted monitoring service |
| dashy | 26.9k | App | beginner | 5 days ago | People running a homelab or home server who want one page for all their services |
| gogs | 47.9k | App | intermediate | 5 days ago | Small teams that want a private Git server on their own hardware |
| dokku | 32.2k | App | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers who want Heroku-style deployment on a server they control |
| dockge | 24.7k | App | beginner | 14 days ago | People who run Docker Compose stacks on a home server or small Linux machine |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.