head to head · open source
SiYuan vs second-brain-cloudflare
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. second-brain-cloudflare has 841 stars, 124 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 5,493% (47,039 vs 841 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; second-brain-cloudflare is written in TypeScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, second-brain-cloudflare 15%. SiYuan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (mcp), 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 | second-brain-cloudflare | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 841 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 124 |
| 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 second-brain-cloudflare if
- You want the second-brain-cloudflare feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and second-brain-cloudflare 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 second-brain-cloudflare
Private memory for you. Shared memory for your team. Available to every MCP compatible AI tool you use. Now with Team Edition — private personal layers plus a shared team layer, in one Worker. Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, and the other AI tools you use do not naturally share context. You end up repeating the same projects, decisions, and preferences in every app. Second Brain gives those tools one persistent memory system. It runs in your own Cloudflare account, stays under your control, and retrieves the right context by meaning rather than exact wording. The desktop app is the easiest way to start. It…
read the full second-brain-cloudflare overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or second-brain-cloudflare more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and second-brain-cloudflare has 841. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and second-brain-cloudflare free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and second-brain-cloudflare under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and second-brain-cloudflare?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and second-brain-cloudflare 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 second-brain-cloudflare?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose second-brain-cloudflare if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.