Comparison

Joplin vs Memos

Joplin lands on Worth it, and Memos lands on Depends.

Joplin

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you want a free, private, cross-device notes app and can tolerate a no-frills UI.

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Great free pick if you self-host and want a private Markdown timeline for quick notes and daily logs.

Joplin versus Memos
Compare	Joplin	Memos
Verdict	Worth it	Depends
Best for	Privacy-focused individual note takers	Self-hosters comfortable with Docker
Who it's not for	Teams needing real-time collaboration	Teams wanting vendor support, SLAs, or compliance guarantees
Privacy	Open-source project with several public CVEs, including a 2.8.8 remote command execution and a Joplin Server privilege escalation fixed in 3.3.3; patch promptly if self-hosting.¹⁰	Self-hosted, so data stays with you . but the project is pre-1.0 with three public CVEs since 2025.^⁹
Support quality	Active community forum; no vendor SLA	Guess: community support only, no vendor SLA
Public sentiment	Users praise Joplin as a reliable free notes workspace, though some find it no-frills and a vocal minority dislikes it.^²	Self-hosters on Reddit and reviewers describe Memos as a fast, simple daily-notes tool that is intentionally minimal.
Biggest gotcha	Self-hosters must patch fast: server privilege-escalation fix shipped only in version 3.3.3.¹¹	Patch fast: XSS (CVE-2026-30586) and other 2025-2026 CVEs are public