memos vs Rowboat

Comparing two open source alternatives to Obsidian and Notion . Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

memos

MIT

Privacy-first, self-hosted note-taking platform with markdown support, tagging, and built-in AI — a lightweight alternative to Notion and Obsidian.

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Rowboat

Apache-2.0

Open-source desktop AI coworker with a living knowledge graph, built-in email, browser, meeting notes, and code mode.

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Side-by-side comparison

	memos	Rowboat
License	MIT	Apache-2.0
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	62,109	17,035
Forks	4,633	1,694
Open Issues	27	142
Last Commit	Aug 8, 2026	Aug 7, 2026
First Released	Dec 8, 2021	Jan 13, 2025
Categories	Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools	Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools Automation Tools AI Coding Agents
Tags	#markdown #memo #note taking #microblog	#ai #ai agent #desktop-app

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