head to head · open source
SiYuan vs saber
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. saber has 5,006 stars, 421 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 840% (47,039 vs 5,006 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; saber is written in Dart under GPL-3.0. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, saber 8%. 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 | saber | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 5.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 421 |
| 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 saber if
- You want the saber feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and saber 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 saber
Saber [ ][google play] [ ][f droid] [ ][app store] [ ][download windows] [ ][flathub] [ ][download appimage] English čeština Deutsch 中文 (简体中文, 中国) 中文 (繁體, 台灣) العربية Tiếng Việt Saber is the notes app built for handwriting. It's designed to be as simple and intuitive as possible, while still delivering unique features that you'll actually use. Additionally, Saber is available across all your devices, large and small, and syncs between them seamlessly. Notably, it can invert your notes when you're in dark mode. This allows you to write with white ink on a black background, which is much easier on the eyes in low…
read the full saber overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or saber more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and saber has 5,006. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and saber free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and saber under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and saber?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and saber in Dart. 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 saber?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose saber if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.