head to head · open source
SiYuan vs itsnotes
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. itsnotes has 43 stars, 5 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 109,293% (47,039 vs 43 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; itsnotes is written in JavaScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, itsnotes 12%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (note-taking, self-hosted), 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 | itsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 43 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 5 |
| 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 itsnotes if
- You want the itsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and itsnotes 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 itsnotes
itsnotes A self hosted Google Keep alternative. It sticks to the familiar masonry layout but overhauls how you actually navigate and organize a large amount of notes. Instead of an endless wall of text, the feed is broken down by month markers. There are quick search panels for colors and tags, a basic folder implementation, and a proper list view. It also handles data import natively, so moving off Keep or importing text files is straightforward. Try the demo → Features: Better navigation: The timeline has month markers to break up the list. There are quick access panels for colors, tags, saved searches, and a…
read the full itsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or itsnotes more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and itsnotes has 43. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and itsnotes free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and itsnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and itsnotes?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and itsnotes 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 itsnotes?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose itsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.