head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Beaver Notes
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Beaver Notes has 1,361 stars, 66 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 3,356% (47,039 vs 1,361 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Beaver Notes is written in JavaScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Beaver Notes 5%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | Beaver Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 66 |
| 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 Beaver Notes if
- You want the Beaver Notes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Beaver Notes 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 Beaver Notes
Beaver Notes Built for people who actually read privacy policies. Your notes, your rules: on your device, your server, or ours. Website · Blog · Docs · Downloads · Roadmap You're on the tauri branch. The v5 rewrite. This is where Beaver Notes is heading. The current stable release lives on development . Most note taking apps make the same quiet trade: your convenience in exchange for access to your data. It's easy to miss in the onboarding flow, buried somewhere in a terms of service document most people never open. Beaver Notes starts from a different place. Your notes live on your device. They're not indexed…
read the full Beaver Notes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Beaver Notes more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and Beaver Notes has 1,361. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Beaver Notes free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Beaver Notes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Beaver Notes?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Beaver Notes in JavaScript. 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 Beaver Notes?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Beaver Notes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.