Linkwarden vs Linkding: Bookmark Managers Compared

Quick Verdict

Linkwarden is the better choice if you need full-page archiving with screenshots and PDFs, collaboration features, or a polished modern UI. Linkding wins if you want a fast, lightweight bookmark manager that uses minimal resources and just works. Most solo users who only need to save and search links should pick Linkding. Teams and digital archivists should pick Linkwarden.

Overview

Linkwarden and Linkding solve the same core problem — saving bookmarks in a self-hosted app instead of trusting a cloud service — but they approach it from opposite directions. Linkwarden is a feature-rich platform built with Next.js that archives entire web pages as screenshots and PDFs so you never lose content to link rot. Linkding is a minimal Django-based bookmark manager that focuses on saving URLs, tagging them, and getting out of your way. The resource gap reflects this difference: Linkwarden needs around 200MB of RAM and a PostgreSQL database, while Linkding runs comfortably on 50MB with SQLite.

Both are actively maintained, have Docker images, and support browser extensions. The question is whether you need archiving and collaboration or just a clean, fast place to store your links.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Linkwarden	Linkding
Full-page archiving	Yes — screenshots, PDFs, and readable text	No — saves URL and metadata only
Collections/folders	Yes — nested collections with sharing	No — flat tag-based organization only
Tags	Yes	Yes
Full-text search	Yes — searches archived page content	Yes — searches titles, descriptions, tags, and notes
Collaboration	Yes — shared collections, multiple users	Limited — multi-user support but no shared collections
Browser extension	Yes	Yes — excellent, includes popup quick-add
REST API	Yes	Yes — well-documented
Import/export	Yes — Netscape HTML format	Yes — Netscape HTML, bulk import
Mobile app	No native app, responsive web UI	No native app, responsive web UI
Database	PostgreSQL required	SQLite (default) or PostgreSQL
License	AGPL-3.0	MIT
Docker image size	~500MB+ (Next.js + archiving dependencies)	~80MB
RAM usage (idle)	~200MB	~50MB
Tech stack	TypeScript, Next.js, Prisma	Python, Django
Read-it-later mode	Yes — archived readable view	Yes — notes field per bookmark
RSS feeds	No	Yes — shared and per-tag RSS feeds
Keyboard shortcuts	Limited	Yes

Docker Compose: Linkwarden

Linkwarden requires PostgreSQL. Create a docker-compose.yml:

services:
  linkwarden:
    image: ghcr.io/linkwarden/linkwarden:v2.9.3
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      # Required: connection string for the PostgreSQL database
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://linkwarden:changeme-db-password@db:5432/linkwarden
      # Required: used for signing session tokens — generate with: openssl rand -hex 32
      - NEXTAUTH_SECRET=changeme-generate-a-random-secret
      # Required: the public URL where Linkwarden is accessible
      - NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
    volumes:
      # Stores archived screenshots, PDFs, and other data
      - linkwarden-data:/data/data
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    networks:
      - linkwarden-net

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=linkwarden
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=changeme-db-password
      - POSTGRES_DB=linkwarden
    volumes:
      - linkwarden-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U linkwarden"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - linkwarden-net

volumes:
  linkwarden-data:
  linkwarden-db:

networks:
  linkwarden-net:

Start it:

docker compose up -d

Open http://your-server:3000 and create your first account. The first registered user becomes the admin.

Docker Compose: Linkding

Linkding works out of the box with SQLite — no external database needed. Create a docker-compose.yml:

services:
  linkding:
    image: sissbruecker/linkding:1.38.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    volumes:
      # Stores the SQLite database and favicons
      - linkding-data:/etc/linkding/data
    environment:
      # Superuser credentials — change these before first start
      - LD_SUPERUSER_NAME=admin
      - LD_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD=changeme-pick-a-strong-password
      # Optional: disable anonymous access to the landing page
      - LD_DISABLE_BACKGROUND_TASKS=False
      # Optional: disable URL validation if you save non-standard URIs
      - LD_DISABLE_URL_VALIDATION=False
    networks:
      - linkding-net

volumes:
  linkding-data:

networks:
  linkding-net:

Start it:

docker compose up -d

Open http://your-server:9090 and log in with the superuser credentials you set. That is it — Linkding is ready to use.

Installation Complexity

Linkding is simpler to set up. One container, SQLite by default, superuser created automatically from environment variables. You can go from zero to working bookmarks in under two minutes.

Linkwarden requires PostgreSQL, a NEXTAUTH_SECRET, and a NEXTAUTH_URL that matches your deployment. The archiving features also need disk space for screenshots and PDFs — plan your storage accordingly. Setup takes five minutes if you know Docker, but there are more moving parts to maintain.

Winner: Linkding. Significantly simpler to deploy and maintain.

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	Linkwarden	Linkding
RAM (idle)	~200MB	~50MB
RAM (under load)	300-500MB+ (during archiving)	~80MB
CPU (idle)	Low-moderate (Next.js SSR)	Minimal
CPU (archiving/import)	High (rendering pages, generating PDFs)	Low (bulk import is fast)
Disk usage	Grows significantly — archived pages accumulate	Minimal — only stores metadata
Startup time	~10 seconds	~2 seconds

Linkding is four times lighter on RAM and barely registers on CPU. Linkwarden’s archiving engine is the main resource consumer — every saved link triggers a headless browser to capture the page. If you are running this on a Raspberry Pi or a low-end VPS, Linkding is the obvious choice.

Winner: Linkding. Runs on almost anything.

Community and Support

Metric	Linkwarden	Linkding
GitHub stars	~8,000+	~7,000+
License	AGPL-3.0	MIT
Update frequency	Active, regular releases	Active, regular releases
Documentation	Good — official docs site	Good — README and wiki
Community	Growing Discord community	GitHub issues, steady contributor base

Both projects have healthy communities and regular updates. Linkwarden’s AGPL license means any modifications to the source must be shared if you distribute the software. Linkding’s MIT license has no such restrictions. For most self-hosters running it privately, the license difference is irrelevant — but if you are building a service on top of one of them, MIT is more permissive.

Use Cases

Choose Linkwarden If…

• You save articles and need to read them later even if the original page goes offline
• You want full-page screenshots and PDF archives of every bookmark
• You collaborate with a team and need shared collections
• You prefer a modern, visually polished interface
• You have spare RAM and storage to dedicate to archiving
• Link rot is a real problem in your workflow

Choose Linkding If…

• You just need a clean place to save, tag, and search bookmarks
• You are running on limited hardware (Raspberry Pi, small VPS)
• You want the simplest possible setup — one container, SQLite, done
• You prefer RSS feeds for your bookmark collections
• You value a fast, minimal UI over visual polish
• You want MIT-licensed software with no copyleft obligations

Final Verdict

For most people, Linkding is the better choice. The majority of bookmark manager users need to save a URL, tag it, and find it later. Linkding does exactly that with minimal resources, a clean interface, and a setup that takes two minutes. It respects the Unix philosophy of doing one thing well.

Pick Linkwarden if archiving is non-negotiable. If you regularly save articles that disappear behind paywalls, get deleted, or change — Linkwarden’s full-page archiving is genuinely valuable. The screenshots and PDFs mean your bookmarks survive even when the original content does not. The trade-off is higher resource usage and a more involved setup, but for archival use cases, nothing else in the self-hosted bookmark space matches it.

If you are unsure, start with Linkding. You can always migrate later — both support Netscape HTML import/export, so moving your bookmarks between them is straightforward.

Related

• How to Self-Host Linkwarden
• How to Self-Host Linkding
• Best Self-Hosted Bookmark Managers
• How to Self-Host Wallabag
• Docker Compose Basics