head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Paperling
SiYuan has 46,523 GitHub stars, 3,029 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Paperling has 568 stars, 40 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan leads on adoption by 8,091% (46,523 vs 568 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Paperling is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Paperling 7%. Paperling was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (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 | Paperling | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 568 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-26 | 2026-09-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 40 |
| 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 Paperling if
- You want the Paperling feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Paperling 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 Paperling
Paperling is a minimal, distraction free Markdown reader and editor built with Tauri, React, and TypeScript for developers and note takers who want to open a single .md file, read it rendered beautifully, and edit it with live preview instead of managing a vault.
read the full Paperling overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Paperling more popular?
SiYuan has 46,523 GitHub stars and Paperling has 568. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Paperling free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Paperling under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Paperling?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Paperling 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 Paperling?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,523 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Paperling if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.