head to head · open source
Joplin vs SiYuan
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars, 6,296 forks, 632 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan has 46,409 stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Joplin leads on adoption by 22% (56,416 vs 46,409 stars). Joplin is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Joplin has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, SiYuan 6%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (note-taking), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Joplin | SiYuan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 56K | ★ 46K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.3K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Joplin if
- You weight community size — 56K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SiYuan if
- You want the SiYuan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and SiYuan fits your workflow better
About Joplin
Joplin is a free, open source, privacy focused note taking and to do application that keeps notes as Markdown on your own device and synchronises them, end to end encrypted, across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
read the full Joplin overview →
About SiYuan
SiYuan is an open source, self hosted knowledge management system built for privacy first workflows. It operates as a local first workspace where users store data in encrypted repositories on their own infrastructure, avoiding reliance on third party cloud services. The project lives in the productivity and utilities ecosystem, specifically targeting note taking and knowledge management use cases, and positions itself as a privacy respecting alternative to Notion.
read the full SiYuan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Joplin or SiYuan more popular?
Joplin has 56,416 GitHub stars and SiYuan has 46,409. Joplin has the larger community by that measure.
Are Joplin and SiYuan free?
Both are open source. Joplin has no licence declared in this registry, and SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Joplin and SiYuan?
Joplin is written in TypeScript and SiYuan in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Joplin or SiYuan?
Choose Joplin if you want the larger community (56,416 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose SiYuan if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.