Compare
Memos vs OneNote
Choose Memos if you want plain Markdown notes on infrastructure you control. Choose OneNote if you want a freeform canvas, handwriting, and Office integration in Microsoft's cloud.
OneNote is a free, mature notebook app with a freeform canvas, ink, and deep Microsoft 365 integration, stored in OneDrive. Memos is an open-source, self-hosted timeline of short Markdown memos with tags and search, with no Microsoft account involved.
| At a glance | Memos | Microsoft OneNote |
|---|---|---|
| License | Open source (MIT) | Proprietary |
| Hosting | Self-hosted web server | OneDrive |
| Data ownership | Your database, zero telemetry | Microsoft account |
| Format | Markdown | Freeform canvas, rich text, ink |
| Best for | Short memos in a timeline | Notebooks, sections, handwritten pages |
| Cost | No license fee (you host) | Free; Microsoft 365 for storage |
The decision
Choose for the work in front of you.
Choose Memos when
You want notes outside a Microsoft account, on a server you run.
You write in Markdown and want tags, search, and a timeline instead of notebooks.
You want portable data: a ZIP of Markdown and JSON whenever you ask.
Choose Microsoft OneNote when
You handwrite, draw, or clip rich content onto a freeform page.
You already live in Microsoft 365 and Teams.
You want offline native apps on every platform at no cost.
Feature by feature
What each one actually does.
Memos answers honestly, including the rows where it says no.
| Feature | Memos | Microsoft OneNote |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership | ||
| Open source | Yes.MIT license, developed in public on GitHub | No.Proprietary |
| Self-hosting | Yes.Docker image or a single binary on your server | No.OneDrive required for the free edition |
| Official hosted service | No.No official hosted plan; you run the instance | Yes.OneDrive and Microsoft 365 |
| Where notes live | SQLite, MySQL, or PostgreSQL on your server | OneDrive |
| Price | No license fee; you pay for hosting | Free; Microsoft 365 for more storage |
| Writing | ||
| Markdown | Yes.Write in Markdown with live rendering, code blocks, and math | No.Freeform rich text; no Markdown |
| Tags | Yes.Inline #tags, nested with a slash | Partial.Paragraph tags such as To Do; no notebook-wide tags |
| Links between notes | Yes.Relations link memos to each other | Yes.Links to pages, sections, and paragraphs |
| Attachments | Yes.Images and files, stored on disk or in S3 | Yes.Files, images, audio, ink |
| Full-text search | Yes.Full-text search with tag, date, and visibility filters | Yes.Full-text including OCR in images |
| Reach | ||
| Works offline | No.Browser app; reading and writing need a reachable server | Yes.Local cache syncs later |
| Desktop app | Partial.Install the web app as a PWA; no official native app | Yes.Windows and macOS |
| Mobile app | Partial.PWA on iOS and Android, plus community-built apps | Yes.iOS and Android |
| Cross-device sync | Yes.The server is the source of truth, so every device sees the same memos | Yes.OneDrive |
| Public sharing | Yes.Per-memo visibility: private, workspace, or public link | Yes.Share pages and notebooks by OneDrive link |
| Data | ||
| API and webhooks | Yes.REST and gRPC APIs, signed webhooks | Yes.Microsoft Graph API |
| Import and export | Partial.ZIP export of Markdown and JSON; import from Memos exports only | Partial.Exports from desktop OneNote; no Markdown export |
| End-to-end encryption | No.The server you run can read your memos; protect it with TLS and disk encryption | No.Password-protected sections only |
Questions
Questions people ask.
Is Memos an open-source OneNote alternative?
For text notes, yes. Memos is MIT-licensed and self-hosted. It does not have OneNote's freeform canvas, ink, or Office integration.
How do I get notes out of OneNote and into Memos?
OneNote has no Markdown export, so convert pages with a third-party tool first, then create memos through the Memos API. Memos imports only its own export format.
Does Memos support handwriting?
No. Memos is text and Markdown. You can attach images of handwritten pages, but they are not searchable.
Keep exploring
Related comparisons and features.
More comparisons
Memos in detail
Start here
Start with one memo.
Install Memos on a server you choose and write your first memo. Open source under MIT, with no license fee.