Linkwarden is the best self-hosted bookmark manager for most people, and especially for teams. It saves a screenshot, a PDF and an HTML copy of every page, organizes links into collections and sub-collections, and lets you share collections with per-member permissions. It needs more running than the others: the app, PostgreSQL and a search engine.
Karakeep is a close second if you save more than links: notes, images, PDFs and videos, with AI tagging that can run on a local model. If you want the least to maintain, linkding is built to be minimal and runs from a single Docker container, and Shiori is a single binary that works with SQLite.
Our picks
- Best overall Linkwarden 4.6 /5
- Best for saving more than links Karakeep 4.1 /5
- Simplest to run linkding 2.8 /5
- Best for the command line Shiori 2.8 /5
Scores
1–5 per criterion · total is the weighted average · select a score to see its source| # | Product | Saving and archiving ×3 | Organizing and finding ×3 | Setup and upkeep ×2 | Sharing and multiple users ×2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linkwarden | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 2 | Karakeep | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4.1 |
| 3 | linkding | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2.8 |
| 4 | Shiori | 3 | 1 | 5 | unknown | 2.8* |
? = the product’s sources don’t say. * = total averages only the known criteria.
How each criterion is scored
Saving and archiving ×3
Ways to save a link (browser extension or bookmarklet, official mobile apps) and whether the app keeps its own copy of the page so it survives the site going away.
- 5 A browser extension, official iOS and Android apps, and at least two kinds of archived copy
- 4 A browser extension, official mobile apps and one kind of archived copy
- 3 A browser extension or bookmarklet and an archived copy, with no official mobile apps
- 2 An archived copy, or a browser extension, but not both
- 1 Links only, with no archived copy
Organizing and finding ×3
How many of five organizing features the project documents: tags, lists or collections, nested collections, search, and automatic tagging.
- 5 All five
- 4 Four of the five
- 3 Three of the five
- 2 Two of the five
- 1 None or one of the five
Setup and upkeep ×2
How many services a standard self-hosted install runs besides the app itself, such as a database server, a search engine or a headless browser.
- 5 None; data lives in a local file
- 4 One extra service
- 3 Two extra services
- 2 Three extra services
- 1 Four or more extra services
Sharing and multiple users ×2
Whether bookmarks can be shared with other people, and how much control there is over what they can do.
- 5 Shared collections with permissions set for each member
- 4 Whole lists or collections can be shared with collaborators
- 3 Individual bookmarks can be shared with other users or the public
- 2 Several user accounts, but no sharing between them
- 1 One user only
Linkwarden treats every bookmark as something to preserve. Each saved page is captured as a screenshot, a PDF and a single HTML file, and you can also send it to the Wayback Machine. The reader view lets you highlight and annotate.
It is also the best choice for groups. Collections can be shared with other users, and you can set each member’s permissions. The cost is the setup: the official compose file runs PostgreSQL and Meilisearch next to the app. Local AI tagging is available but optional.
- Saves a screenshot, PDF and single HTML file of every page
- Collections, sub-collections, tags and full-text search
- Shared collections with per-member permissions
- Browser extension and native iOS and Android apps
- The official Docker setup runs three services, the app, PostgreSQL and Meilisearch
Skip it if: Anyone who wants one container and nothing else to maintain.
Karakeep (previously Hoarder) is built for people who save everything. Beyond links it stores notes, images and PDFs, archives full pages against link rot, and can archive videos. Search covers the full text of saved content and adds semantic search, and AI can tag and summarize what you save, with support for local models.
It ranks second because it is the heaviest to run. The compose file starts a headless Chrome and Meilisearch alongside the app, and its documentation calls configuring OpenAI for automatic tagging “optional though but highly recommended”. Sharing exists, with collaboration on lists, but there are no per-member permissions like Linkwarden’s.
- Saves links, notes, images and PDFs, with full-page archival
- Full-text and semantic search
- AI tagging, including local models through Ollama
- Chrome, Firefox and Safari extensions plus iOS and Android apps
- Runs the app, a headless Chrome and Meilisearch
- AI tagging needs an OpenAI key or a local model
Skip it if: Anyone who wants a small, fixed feature set with no AI to configure.
linkding does the core job with very little to maintain. You organize bookmarks with tags, add Markdown notes, and mark links to read later. Pages can be archived as local HTML files or on the Internet Archive.
Sharing is limited to sharing bookmarks with other users or guests, and there are no collections, which is why it ranks below the two heavier options.
- Built to be minimal, fast and easy to run with Docker
- Firefox and Chrome extensions and a bookmarklet
- Archives pages as local HTML or on the Internet Archive
- Tags only, with no collections
- No official mobile app; the project points to community-made ones
Skip it if: Teams that need shared collections with permissions.
Shiori started as a simple clone of Pocket, and it stays simple: add, edit, delete and search, from the command line or a web interface. It parses the readable content of each page and keeps an offline archive.
It ranks last on features, not quality. Organization is minimal, its documentation doesn’t describe sharing, and the latest release on GitHub dates from 26 September 2025.
- A single binary that works with SQLite, PostgreSQL, MariaDB or MySQL
- Creates an offline archive of each page by default
- Works as a command line app or a web app
- Basic bookmark management only
- The browser extension is still in beta
- Its latest release, v1.8.0, is from September 2025, the oldest here
Skip it if: Anyone who needs sharing, collections or other users.
Questions
Which of these keep a copy of the page if the site disappears?
All four. Linkwarden saves a screenshot, PDF and HTML file; Karakeep does full-page archival; linkding saves local HTML or uses the Internet Archive; and Shiori creates an offline archive by default.
Do I need an AI service?
No. Linkwarden’s AI tagging is optional and runs locally. Karakeep’s documentation calls AI tagging optional but highly recommended, and it works with OpenAI or a local model through Ollama.
Method
Each bookmark manager was scored 1–5 on four weighted criteria, each with a published five-level scale: saving and archiving (×3), organizing and finding (×3), setup and upkeep (×2) and sharing and multiple users (×2). A criterion a project’s documentation doesn’t cover is shown as ”?” and left out of its average. The ranking is the weighted average. Every score cites quotes from the project’s README, Docker Compose file, documentation or GitHub release data, captured on 5 November 2026.
We scored from each project’s own documentation and did not install the apps. How our rankings work.