# Alternatives to Servas

Servas is an open-source, self-hosted bookmark manager built on Laravel/Inertia with a Svelte frontend, organizing bookmarks into nested groups filterable by tags. It supports JSON/HTML bookmark import, two-factor auth, and official Docker images (SQLite by default), plus Firefox/Chrome browser extensions for one-click saving. GitHub activity is current (pushed within the last few months).

Servas ranks #7 of 11 in Bookmark managers, with an Alt Score of 64. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, free from Free and available on Web and Browser extension. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/servas/
Category: Bookmark managers

## Where Servas stands out

- **Self-hostable** — 5 of 10 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Servas is aimed at individuals and small teams who want to run their own bookmark manager on infrastructure they control, rather than use a hosted SaaS service.
- **What you get**: Servas organizes bookmarks with tags and nestable groups (including tag-based Smart Groups), supports multiple user accounts with optional two-factor authentication, provides Firefox and Chrome browser extensions for saving links, and lets you import or export bookmarks in JSON or Netscape HTML format. Groups can be shared read-only via a public link, and a token-authenticated API backs the browser extension.
- **How it works**: The application is a Laravel and Inertia.js backend with a Svelte and Tailwind CSS frontend, distributed as an official Docker image (SQLite, MySQL, or MariaDB) or installed manually from source. Users register an account on their own instance, then save and organize links either through the web interface or the browser extension, which talks to the app over its authenticated API.

## Profile

- **License**: GPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Platforms**: Web, Browser extension
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-30)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Raindrop.io](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/raindropio.md) | 91 | Proprietary | iOS, Android, macOS, Windows |
| 2 | [Diigo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/diigo.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Web, Browser extension, iOS, Android |
| 3 | [Linkwarden](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/linkwarden.md) | 82 | AGPL-3.0 | Web, iOS, Android, Browser extension |
| 4 | [LinkAce](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/linkace.md) | 73 | GPL-3.0 | Web |
| 5 | [Linkding](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/linkding.md) | 73 | MIT | Web, Browser extension |
| 6 | [Pinboard](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pinboard.md) | 68 | Proprietary | Web, Browser extension |
| 7 | [mymind](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mymind.md) | 60 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android, macOS |
| 8 | [Bookmark Ninja](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/bookmark-ninja.md) | 55 | Proprietary | Web, Browser extension |
| 9 | [Shaarli](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/shaarli.md) | 55 | zlib/libpng | Web |
| 10 | [Linkinize](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/linkinize.md) | 50 | Proprietary | Web, Browser extension |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Bookmark managers checklist | Servas | Raindrop.io | Diigo | Linkwarden | LinkAce | Linkding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Freemium | Freemium | OSS + paid hosting | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free | ? | $3/mo | Free | Free |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Platforms | Web, Browser extension | iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web, Browser extension | Web, Browser extension, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, Browser extension | Web | Web, Browser extension |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Full-text search of pages | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Tags & collections | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Broken-link detection | No | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No |
| Highlights | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import from browser | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |
| Archive page copies | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Servas. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: GPL-3.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Same evidence as pricing_model: no paid tier or pricing page found; self-hosted GPL-3.0 software.
  - Quote: “A self-hosted bookmark management tool.”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: No pricing page exists on servas.app; /pricing serves the same content as the homepage (SPA fallback, no dedicated page). Project is GPL-3.0 licensed, self-hosted only, with no hosted/paid tier found
  - Quote: “A self-hosted bookmark management tool.”
- **Platforms**: Web, Browser extension — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Servas is a self-hosted web app (register/login via browser at your own instance URL) plus companion Firefox/Chrome browser extensions. No native desktop/mobile clients found.
  - Quote: “Firefox and Chrome browser extension: Add sites to Servas right from your browser.”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/beromir/Servas/releases/tag/v1.1.1> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Latest release v1.1.1 published 2026-04-15 (page datetime attribute confirms this); repo has 824 stars and 18 open issues. Not abandoned, but the servas.app/releases page on-site only lists up to v1.1
  - Quote: “Release v1.1.1 · beromir/Servas”
- **Browser extension**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Firefox and Chrome browser extension: Add sites to Servas right from your browser.”
- **Full-text search of pages**: No — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/app/Http/Controllers/SearchController.php> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Search only indexes link/group titles and tag names, not the full text of the bookmarked pages themselves.
  - Quote: “->registerModel(Link::class, 'title', 'link')->registerModel(Group::class, 'title')->registerModel(Tag::class, 'name')”
- **Tags & collections**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Servas calls collections 'Groups' (nestable, and combinable with tags via 'Smart Groups').
  - Quote: “Tags: Organize your bookmarks with tags.”
- **Sharing**: Yes — <https://servas.app/releases/0-2-0-app> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “Groups can now be shared via a public link. People can see the links, but cannot edit them.”
- **Self-hostable**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Quote: “A self-hosted bookmark management tool.”
- **Broken-link detection**: No — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: README's full feature enumeration has no mention of link-health/broken-link checking; no scheduled job or command for this exists in the app/Console/Commands or app/Jobs directories either.
  - Quote: “## Features

- **Tags:** Organize your bookmarks with tags.
- **Groups:** Group your bookmarks. Groups can be nested.
- **Smart Groups:** Group your bookmarks based on their belonging tags.
- **Firefo”
- **Highlights**: No — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: No page-highlighting/annotation feature is listed in the README, and no such model exists in app/Models (only Group, Link, PublicLink, Tag, User).
  - Quote: “## Features

- **Tags:** Organize your bookmarks with tags.
- **Groups:** Group your bookmarks. Groups can be nested.
- **Smart Groups:** Group your bookmarks based on their belonging tags.
- **Firefo”
- **API**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/routes/api.php> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Authenticated (Sanctum token) API used by the browser extension; not documented publicly as a general-purpose API but the routes exist and are user-token-accessible.
  - Quote: “Route::get('/all-tags', [TagController::class, 'getAllTags']); Route::get('/all-groups', [GroupController::class, 'getAllGroups']); Route::post('/links', [LinkController::class, 'store']);”
- **Import from browser**: Yes — <https://servas.app/releases/1-0-0-app> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Nested folders are not supported on import; they are flattened to a single list of groups, per the same release notes.
  - Quote: “You can now import bookmarks from HTML browser bookmark files. Tags are supported. Folders will be converted to groups.”
- **Archive page copies**: No — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/beromir/Servas/main/README.md> (verified 2026-07-30)
  - Note: Servas stores only the bookmark URL/title/tags, not a snapshot of the page content; no archiving service/model exists in the codebase (app/Services and app/Models contain no archive-related class).
  - Quote: “## Features

- **Tags:** Organize your bookmarks with tags.
- **Groups:** Group your bookmarks. Groups can be nested.
- **Smart Groups:** Group your bookmarks based on their belonging tags.
- **Firefo”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/