head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Anarlog
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Anarlog has 9,746 stars, 824 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 383% (47,039 vs 9,746 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Anarlog is written in Rust under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Anarlog 8%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (local-first), 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 | Anarlog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 9.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 824 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SiYuan if
- You weight community size — 47K 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 Anarlog if
- You want the Anarlog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Anarlog fits your workflow better
About SiYuan
From thought to insight, with agents English 中文 日本語 Türkçe Table of Contents 💡 Introduction 🔮 Features 🏗️ Architecture and Ecosystem 🗺️ Roadmap 🚀 Download Setup App Market Installation Package Package Manager Docker Hosting Unraid Hosting TrueNAS Hosting Test Channels ⌨️ Command line Interface 🏘️ Community 🛠️ Development Guide ❓ FAQ How does SiYuan store data? Does it support data synchronization through a third party sync disk? Is SiYuan open source? How to upgrade to a new version? What if some blocks (such as paragraph blocks in list items) cannot find the block icon? What should I do if the data repo…
read the full SiYuan overview →
About Anarlog
Note: The team is now building char . The anarlog community application remains open source, MIT licensed, and maintained as the local first meeting notetaker in this repo. Source visible enterprise components are commercially licensed. anarlog The privacy first AI meeting notepad. Open source, local first, and yours to fork. Granola, rearranged. Website • Docs • Download • Discord • r/anarlog • @anarlogapp • Status anarlog is an open source alternative to Granola. It takes notes in your meetings without sending a bot to join the call: it listens to your device audio, can transcribe on your machine, and keeps…
read the full Anarlog overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Anarlog more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and Anarlog has 9,746. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Anarlog free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Anarlog under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Anarlog?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Anarlog in Rust. 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 Anarlog?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Anarlog if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.