head to head · open source
SiYuan vs notes
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. notes has 4,263 stars, 385 forks, 137 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 1,003% (47,039 vs 4,263 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; notes is written in C++ under MPL-2.0. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, notes 9%. 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, note-taking), 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 | notes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 385 |
| 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 notes if
- You want the notes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and notes 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 notes
Notes Notes is an open source and cross platform note taking app that is both beautiful and powerful. Website: notes foss.com Screenshots Features Overview Native app (written in C++ with Qt). Turn your Markdown tasks into a beautiful Kanban board. Fast and beautiful. Fully open source and cross platform (Linux, macOS, Windows). Completely private tracks nothing. Folders and tags. Organize your ideas hierarchically using nested folders and universally using tags. Markdown Support. Format text without lifting your hands from the keyboard. Different themes. Switch between Light, Dark, and Sepia. Feed View. Select…
read the full notes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or notes more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and notes has 4,263. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and notes free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and notes under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and notes?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and notes 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 notes?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose notes if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.