head to head · open source
SiYuan vs pm-brain
SiYuan has 46,422 GitHub stars, 3,011 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pm-brain has 868 stars, 171 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 5,248% (46,422 vs 868 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; pm-brain is written in Python under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, pm-brain 20%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | pm-brain | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 868 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-05-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 171 |
| 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 pm-brain if
- You want the pm-brain feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pm-brain 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 pm-brain
PM Brain is an MIT licensed Claude Code skill that gives a product manager a second brain made of plain markdown files in a local folder, which Claude reads before answering, writes to after, and sweeps every Friday.
read the full pm-brain overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or pm-brain more popular?
SiYuan has 46,422 GitHub stars and pm-brain has 868. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and pm-brain free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pm-brain under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and pm-brain?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and pm-brain in Python. 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 pm-brain?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,422 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pm-brain if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.