head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Open-Notebook
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Open-Notebook has 41,377 stars, 4,762 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 14% (47,039 vs 41,377 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Open-Notebook is written in TypeScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Open-Notebook 12%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | Open-Notebook | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 41K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| 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 Open-Notebook if
- You want the Open-Notebook feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Open-Notebook 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 Open-Notebook
[![Forks][forks shield]][forks url] [![Stargazers][stars shield]][stars url] [![Issues][issues shield]][issues url] [![MIT License][license shield]][license url] Open Notebook An open source, privacy focused alternative to Google's Notebook LM! Join our Discord server for help, to share workflow ideas, and suggest features! Checkout our website » Follow @lfnovo on X for updates 📚 Get Started · 📖 User Guide · ✨ Features · 🚀 Deploy Deutsch Español français 日本語 한국어 Português Русский 中文 A private, multi model, 100% local, full featured alternative to Notebook LM In a world dominated by Artificial Intelligence…
read the full Open-Notebook overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Open-Notebook more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and Open-Notebook has 41,377. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Open-Notebook free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Open-Notebook under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Open-Notebook?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Open-Notebook in TypeScript. 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 Open-Notebook?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Open-Notebook if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.