head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Beaver Notes
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Beaver Notes has 1,344 stars, 65 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 3,353% (46,409 vs 1,344 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Beaver Notes is written in JavaScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 6% 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 | ★ 46K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 65 |
| 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 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
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 Beaver Notes
Beaver Notes is an open source, local first workspace for notes, projects, and meetings. It is a JavaScript application under the MIT license, and it presents itself as a privacy focused note taking tool. The core idea is that notes stay on the user's device unless the user explicitly chooses a sync method.
read the full Beaver Notes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Beaver Notes more popular?
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars and Beaver Notes has 1,344. 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 (46,409 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.