head to head · open source
SiYuan vs iwe
SiYuan has 47,095 GitHub stars, 3,099 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped today. iwe has 1,815 stars, 94 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan leads on adoption by 2,495% (47,095 vs 1,815 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; iwe is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, iwe 5%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (local-first, markdown, mcp), 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 | iwe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-06 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 94 |
| 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 iwe if
- You want the iwe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and iwe 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 iwe
IWE Memory system for you and your AI agents Turn your thinking into queryable context IWE turns a directory of markdown files into a knowledge graph — a connected structure you browse from your editor and your AI queries from the command line. Same files, same links, two interfaces. No cloud, no database, no lock in. Version everything with git. IWE is for people who want database style queries on their notes — "all drafts under this subtree", "every accepted decision in Q1" — without moving them into an actual database. Write in Markdown , structure with links, give AI agents the tools to navigate your…
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or iwe more popular?
SiYuan has 47,095 GitHub stars and iwe has 1,815. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and iwe free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and iwe under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and iwe?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and iwe in Rust. 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 iwe?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,095 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose iwe if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.