Memoria vs Pencil: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)
A side-by-side comparison of Memoria and Pencil — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.
Memoria
Anas
On-device photo and video search that indexes the text, speech, objects and faces in your library — no cloud, no account.
Key features
- On-Device OCR: Reads the text inside photos, screenshots, documents, whiteboards and video frames in seven languages, making every written word searchable.
- Local Whisper Transcription: Runs Whisper directly on the device to transcribe the speech in your videos across 99+ languages, so lectures, meetings and voice notes become searchable text.
- Face Detection and Clustering: Detects faces and groups them locally so you can pull up every photo of one person in a single tap, without any cloud face database.
- Object Recognition: Identifies objects in your library so queries like "red bicycle" return matching shots even when nothing was ever tagged.
- Unified Full-Text Index: Combines text, speech, objects and people into one instant search index that lives entirely on the phone.
- Background Indexing: Keeps indexing while the app is closed and prioritises work while the device is charging, so a large library finishes without you babysitting it.
- Zero-Account Privacy Model: No sign-up, no upload and no tracking — analytics are anonymous and opt-out, and the app is GDPR-safe by having nothing to collect.
- One-Time Purchase Unlock: Memoria Plus removes the 250-media indexing cap forever with a single payment processed by Apple or Google, including future on-device models.
Best for
- Finding a Document You Photographed: Recovering an invoice, bill or receipt you snapped months ago by searching the words printed on it rather than scrolling the camera roll.
- Searching Recorded Lectures and Meetings: Locating the moment a specific term was spoken inside a long video by searching the on-device transcript.
- Pulling Every Photo of a Person: Assembling all shots of one friend or family member from a clustered face group for a birthday album or share.
- Recovering Saved Screenshots and Memes: Tracking down a screenshot or meme by the text written on it instead of guessing when you saved it.
- Working Offline or While Travelling: Searching a full media library on a plane or with no signal, since indexing and search never require a network.
- Keeping Sensitive Media Off the Cloud: Making a library of personal, medical or client photos searchable without uploading any of it to a third-party service.
Pencil
Pencil (Pencil Works)
In-IDE design canvas that lets engineers design UI and convert designs directly into code to speed development.
Key features
- In-IDE Design Canvas: Provides a visual design canvas embedded inside developers' IDEs so users can create and edit UI designs without context switching to external design apps.
- Design-to-Code Export: Converts designs into code-friendly artifacts or components (land in code) to reduce manual implementation and speed delivery of production UI.
- Local MCP Server & Discovery: Runs a local MCP-style service that writes config (e.g., ~/.claude.json) so external tools and agents can discover Pencil, read its port/command, and integrate programmatically.
- Auto-Configuration & Port Sync: Supports auto-setup and auto-sync behaviors (project or global scope) so integrations (like OpenCode) automatically add Pencil to their configs and update ports when Pencil restarts.
- Project-Scoped Integration: Can be configured per-project or globally, allowing teams to make Pencil available only within specific repositories or across all projects for consistent workflows.
- Tooling & CLI Support: Exposes status, setup, and sync actions for partner tools and agent plugins (e.g., pencil_status, pencil_setup, pencil_sync) to manage connectivity and lifecycle programmatically.
- Canvas-based UI design embedded into developer workflows/IDEs
- Design-to-code export so visual designs can be converted into code artifacts
- Runs a local MCP/config server and writes runtime config to a file (e.g., ~/.claude.json) for tooling integrations
- Integration plugins (example: OpenCode pencil-sync) that auto-setup Pencil in project/global configs and auto-sync ports after restarts
- CLI/tools for status, setup and sync (pencil_status, pencil_setup, pencil_sync) to manage Pencil integration lifecycle
- Support for project or global scope configuration (config added to ~/.config/opencode/opencode.jsonc or ./opencode.json)
- Automatic port/config backup and validation when updating third-party tool configs
Best for
- IDE-native UI Implementation: Designers and engineers create UI layouts directly inside an IDE and export components to the codebase, eliminating design handoffs and manual translation.
- Agent-enabled Code Generation: Integrate with developer agents or automation (via Pencil's MCP config) to let bots generate, update, or wire up UI code from canvas designs automatically.
- Project-scoped Tooling Integration: Add Pencil to a single project's config to enable team members to access the same design-canvas tooling and keep design artifacts synchronized with that repository.
- Auto-recovery After Restarts: Use automatic port-sync and setup tools so external tooling (like OpenCode) recovers connectivity after Pencil restarts without manual reconfiguration.
- Rapid Prototyping and Iteration: Quickly prototype UI ideas inside the IDE, iterate in-context with code, and validate implementations faster by seeing designs translate to code artifacts immediately.
- Cross-tool Workflow Automation: Connect Pencil with CI, linters, or component libraries via its MCP endpoint to automate tasks like component registration, export, or style enforcement from designs.
- Embed visual design work directly inside developers' IDEs to reduce context switching
- Automatically export or convert canvas designs into code components or project assets
- Auto-configure developer tools and agents to use the locally running Pencil service
- Keep IDE/tooling configurations in sync when Pencil restarts or changes port
- Integrate Pencil with automation agents or local development frameworks to enable programmatic access to designs