head to head · open source
SiYuan vs mindforger
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mindforger has 2,724 stars, 173 forks, 625 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 1,627% (47,039 vs 2,724 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; mindforger is written in C++ under GPL-2.0. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, mindforger 6%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (markdown), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| SiYuan | mindforger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 173 |
| 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 mindforger if
- You want the mindforger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and mindforger 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 mindforger
Thinking Notebook & Markdown Editor Are you drowning in information , but starving for knowledge ? Where do you keep your private remarks like ideas, personal plans, gift tips, how tos, dreams, business vision, finance strategy, auto coaching notes? Loads of documents, sketches and remarks spread around the file system, cloud, web and Post it notes? Are you afraid of your knowledge privacy ? Are you able to find them once you create them? Do you know how are they mutually related when you read or write them? No? Thinking Notebook MindForger is human mind inspired personal knowledge management tool. Markdown…
read the full mindforger overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or mindforger more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and mindforger has 2,724. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and mindforger free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and mindforger under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and mindforger?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and mindforger in C++. 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 mindforger?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose mindforger if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.