head to head · open source
SiYuan vs iwe
SiYuan has 46,451 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped today. iwe has 1,703 stars, 86 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 2,628% (46,451 vs 1,703 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; iwe is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. SiYuan has attracted 6% 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 | ★ 46K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 86 |
| 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 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
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 iwe
IWE is a local first Rust tool that turns a directory of Markdown files into a knowledge graph, serving the same notes to your editor through a language server and to AI agents through a CLI and MCP server — it is built for anyone who wants database style queries over plain notes they continue to own.
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or iwe more popular?
SiYuan has 46,451 GitHub stars and iwe has 1,703. 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 (46,451 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.