head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Butterfly
SiYuan has 46,436 GitHub stars, 3,011 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped today. Butterfly has 2,024 stars, 151 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 2,194% (46,436 vs 2,024 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Butterfly is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. SiYuan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Butterfly 7%. 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 | Butterfly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 151 |
| 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 Butterfly if
- You want the Butterfly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Butterfly 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 Butterfly
Butterfly is a free, open source, cross platform note taking and drawing application built with Flutter and Dart, made for people who think visually and want an endless workspace for handwritten, typed, and imported content on desktop and Android.
read the full Butterfly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Butterfly more popular?
SiYuan has 46,436 GitHub stars and Butterfly has 2,024. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Butterfly free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Butterfly under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Butterfly?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Butterfly in Dart. 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 Butterfly?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,436 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Butterfly if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.