LinkAce vs Linkding: Bookmark Managers Compared

Linkding for Most People, LinkAce for Link Monitoring

Linkding is a single Docker container with SQLite that handles bookmarking, tagging, and search. LinkAce runs four containers (PHP app, nginx, MariaDB, Redis) and adds automated dead link detection — it periodically checks if your saved URLs still resolve. If monitoring bookmark health matters to you, LinkAce justifies its complexity. For everyone else, Linkding is simpler, lighter, and more actively maintained.

Overview

Linkding is a Python/Django bookmark manager focused on speed and simplicity. One container, SQLite by default (PostgreSQL optional), fast full-text search, tag-based organization, browser extensions, and a REST API. Created by Sascha Ißbrücker, actively maintained with regular releases. github.com/sissbruecker/linkding

LinkAce is a PHP/Laravel bookmark manager with link monitoring as its key differentiator. It periodically checks whether bookmarks are still alive (HTTP 200) and flags dead links. Requires MariaDB and Redis alongside the application. Tags, lists, REST API, browser extensions. Created by Kevin Woblick. linkace.org

Feature Comparison

Feature	Linkding v1.45.0	LinkAce v2.5.1
Dead link detection	No	Yes (automated)
Tags	Yes	Yes
Lists/collections	No (tags only)	Yes (tags + lists)
Full-text search	Yes (fast)	Yes
Browser extensions	Chrome, Firefox	Chrome, Firefox
REST API	Yes	Yes
Bulk import	Yes (Netscape HTML)	Yes (Netscape HTML)
Bulk export	Yes (Netscape HTML)	Yes (HTML, CSV)
Notes per bookmark	Yes	Yes
Shared/public links	Yes (guest sharing)	Yes
Multi-user	Yes (with shared bookmarks)	Yes
Read-it-later	Yes (unread flag)	No
Auto-fetch metadata	Yes (title, description, favicon)	Yes (title, description)
Website archiving	Via Internet Archive integration	No
RSS feed of bookmarks	Yes	No
Dark mode	Yes	Yes
Database	SQLite (default) or PostgreSQL	MariaDB (default), MySQL, PostgreSQL
Language	Python (Django)	PHP (Laravel)
License	MIT	GPL v3

Setup Complexity

This is a significant differentiator.

Linkding — one container, optional SQLite:

services:
  linkding:
    image: sissbruecker/linkding:1.45.0
    ports: ["9090:9090"]
    volumes: [linkding-data:/etc/linkding/data]
    restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
  linkding-data:

Create a superuser after first start: docker exec -it linkding python manage.py createsuperuser.

LinkAce — four containers with nginx, MariaDB, Redis:

services:
  db:
    image: mariadb:11.2
    # ... MariaDB config, volumes, charset settings
  app:
    image: linkace/linkace:v2.5.1
    # ... env file, multiple volumes
  nginx:
    image: bitnami/nginx:1.24
    # ... nginx.conf bind mount, shared app volume
  redis:
    image: bitnami/redis:7.2
    # ... Redis password

Plus: generate an APP_KEY, create an .env file with ~15 variables, write or download an nginx.conf, and complete a web-based setup wizard.

Setup Metric	Linkding	LinkAce
Containers	1	4
Config files	0 (env vars optional)	2 (.env + nginx.conf)
Time to first bookmark	~2 minutes	~10 minutes
APP_KEY generation	Not needed	Required
Database setup	Automatic (SQLite)	Semi-automatic (wizard)

Resource Usage

Resource	Linkding	LinkAce
RAM (idle)	~60–80 MB	~250–400 MB
RAM (active use)	~100–150 MB	~400–600 MB
CPU	Low	Low
Disk (application)	~150 MB	~500 MB
Containers	1	4

Linkding uses roughly 3–5x less RAM because it’s a single Python process with SQLite, while LinkAce runs PHP-FPM, nginx, MariaDB, and Redis.

The Link Monitoring Question

LinkAce’s key differentiator is automated dead link detection. A background worker periodically visits every saved URL and checks the HTTP status code. Dead links (404, 5xx, DNS failures, timeouts) get flagged in the dashboard.

When this matters:

• You maintain a large bookmark collection (hundreds or thousands of links)
• You use bookmarks as reference material for work (research, writing, development)
• You care about link rot — knowing which saved resources have disappeared

When it doesn’t matter:

• Your bookmark collection is small
• You primarily use bookmarks for quick access to sites you visit frequently
• You don’t go back to old bookmarks often

Linkding doesn’t check link health, but it integrates with the Internet Archive to save snapshots of bookmarked pages — a different approach to the same underlying problem (content disappearing).

Development Activity

Metric	Linkding	LinkAce
GitHub stars	~7K+	~2.5K+
Release frequency	Monthly	Quarterly
Last release	Regular	February 2025 (v2.5.1)
Contributors	Active community	Smaller community

Linkding has more active development with more frequent releases and a larger community. LinkAce is maintained but updates are less frequent.

Choose Linkding If…

• You want the simplest possible bookmark manager
• Resource efficiency matters (one container, 60 MB RAM)
• You don’t need automated dead link checking
• You want active development with frequent updates
• SQLite simplicity appeals to you
• You want RSS feeds of your bookmarks
• Read-it-later (unread flag) is useful to you

Choose LinkAce If…

• Dead link detection is important for your workflow
• You maintain a large reference collection where link health matters
• You prefer lists in addition to tags for organization
• You’re comfortable managing a 4-container stack
• MariaDB/MySQL is already part of your infrastructure

Verdict

Linkding is the better bookmark manager for most self-hosters. It’s simpler to set up, lighter to run, more actively maintained, and covers 90% of what people need from a bookmark tool. The single-container architecture with SQLite means there’s almost nothing to manage.

LinkAce earns its complexity if you need dead link monitoring. Automatically checking whether your bookmarks still resolve is genuinely useful for anyone maintaining a large reference collection. No other popular self-hosted bookmark manager offers this as a built-in feature. But if you don’t need it, the 4-container stack is hard to justify over Linkding’s simplicity.

Also consider Linkwarden (more features, screenshots, collaboration), Shiori (offline page archiving, even lighter than Linkding), or Hoarder (AI-powered organization).

FAQ

Can Linkding detect dead links?

Not automatically. Linkding doesn’t periodically check bookmark URLs. It integrates with the Internet Archive for page snapshots, which is a different approach — preserving content rather than monitoring availability.

Can I migrate from LinkAce to Linkding (or vice versa)?

Both support Netscape Bookmark HTML export and import. Export from one, import into the other. Tags transfer; lists (LinkAce-specific) do not.

Which has better search?

Both have good full-text search. Linkding’s search is notably fast due to SQLite’s FTS5 implementation. LinkAce search works well but depends on MariaDB’s text indexing.

Can either replace Pocket?

Both can replace Pocket for bookmark saving and tagging. Neither has a true read-it-later article view like Pocket’s reader mode. Linkding has an “unread” flag that mimics Pocket’s to-read queue. For a closer Pocket replacement, look at Wallabag.

Related

• How to Self-Host Linkding
• How to Self-Host LinkAce
• How to Self-Host Linkwarden
• How to Self-Host Wallabag
• How to Self-Host Shiori
• How to Self-Host Hoarder
• Best Self-Hosted Bookmark Managers