head to head · open source
Logseq vs MiaoYan
Logseq has 45,460 GitHub stars, 2,866 forks, 942 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. MiaoYan has 8,721 stars, 522 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Logseq leads on adoption by 421% (45,460 vs 8,721 stars). Logseq is written in Clojure under AGPL-3.0; MiaoYan is written in Swift under MIT. Logseq has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, MiaoYan 6%. MiaoYan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (local-first, markdown), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Logseq | MiaoYan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Clojure | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 522 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Logseq if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Clojure
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick MiaoYan if
- You want the MiaoYan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and MiaoYan fits your workflow better
About Logseq
Logseq A privacy first, open source platform for knowledge management and collaboration Home Page Blog Documentation Roadmap Table of Contents 🚀 Database Version 🤔 Why Logseq? 👀 How can I use it? 📚 Learn more 🫶 Support Logseq Development 💡 Feature requests 🔌 Plugin API 🌟 Contributing to Logseq 🛠️ Setting Up a Development Environment ✨ Inspiration 🙏 Thank You 🚀 Database Version The Database version (DB version) of Logseq introduces DB graphs. See this page to get an overview of the main features for DB graphs. If you are an existing user, see changes with the DB version. The DB version has its own new…
read the full Logseq overview →
About MiaoYan
English 简体中文 MiaoYan Lightweight Markdown note taking app for macOS Features Fantastic : Local first, no data collection, split editor & preview, wikilink backlinks, LaTeX, Mermaid Beautiful : Minimalist design, three column layout, dark mode, macOS 26 glass, distraction free Fast : Swift 6 native, better performance than Electron based apps Simple : Lightweight, version history, keyboard shortcuts, auto formatting Installation 1. Mac App Store (paid, automatic updates): 2. Homebrew : 3. GitHub Releases : download the latest DMG from GitHub Releases (macOS 11.5+) All three options share the same codebase and…
read the full MiaoYan overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Logseq or MiaoYan more popular?
Logseq has 45,460 GitHub stars and MiaoYan has 8,721. Logseq has the larger community by that measure.
Are Logseq and MiaoYan free?
Both are open source. Logseq is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MiaoYan under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Logseq and MiaoYan?
Logseq is written in Clojure and MiaoYan in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Logseq or MiaoYan?
Choose Logseq if you want the larger community (45,460 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MiaoYan if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.