head to head · open source
SiYuan vs itsnotes
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. itsnotes has 32 stars, 3 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 144,928% (46,409 vs 32 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; itsnotes is written in JavaScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, itsnotes 9%. 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 | ★ 46K | ★ 32 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 3 |
| 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 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
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 itsnotes
itsnotes is a self hosted, MIT licensed Google Keep replacement — built with React, Node.js, PostgreSQL and Socket.io — for people who like the sticky note masonry layout but need better navigation and organization, and who want their notes to stay on their own hardware.
read the full itsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or itsnotes more popular?
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars and itsnotes has 32. 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 (46,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose itsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.