head to head · open source
SiYuan vs second-brain-cloudflare
SiYuan has 46,429 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped today. second-brain-cloudflare has 771 stars, 117 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SiYuan leads on adoption by 5,922% (46,429 vs 771 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; second-brain-cloudflare is written in TypeScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 6% 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 | ★ 46K | ★ 771 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 117 |
| 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 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
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 second-brain-cloudflare
Second Brain is a self hosted memory layer for AI tools — an MIT licensed TypeScript application that runs as a Cloudflare Worker, stores anything once, and lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, and any other Model Context Protocol client recall it by meaning — built for individuals and small teams who want their AI context to live in their own Cloudflare account.
read the full second-brain-cloudflare overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or second-brain-cloudflare more popular?
SiYuan has 46,429 GitHub stars and second-brain-cloudflare has 771. 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 (46,429 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.