head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Open-Notebook
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open-Notebook has 39,087 stars, 4,527 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 19% (46,409 vs 39,087 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Open-Notebook 12%. 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
| SiYuan | Open-Notebook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 39K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SiYuan if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Open-Notebook if
- You want the Open-Notebook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Open-Notebook fits your workflow better
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 →
About Open-Notebook
Open Notebook is an open source, privacy focused research notebook that replicates and extends Google’s Notebook LM functionality. It runs locally or self hosted, letting users manage AI powered research workflows without surrendering data to cloud providers. Built with TypeScript, Next.js, React, SurrealDB, and LangChain, it targets researchers, students, and knowledge workers seeking control over their data and tools.
read the full Open-Notebook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Open-Notebook more popular?
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars and Open-Notebook has 39,087. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Open-Notebook free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Open-Notebook under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Open-Notebook?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Open-Notebook 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, SiYuan or Open-Notebook?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Open-Notebook if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.