head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Standard Notes
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Standard Notes has 6,633 stars, 551 forks, 99 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan leads on adoption by 600% (46,409 vs 6,633 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Standard Notes is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. SiYuan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Standard Notes 8%. SiYuan 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 | Standard Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 6.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 551 |
| 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 Standard Notes if
- You want the Standard Notes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Standard Notes 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 Standard Notes
Standard Notes is an end to end encrypted note taking application for individuals and professionals who want to capture notes, files, and long term work in a place only they can read, with clients on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and the web.
read the full Standard Notes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Standard Notes more popular?
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars and Standard Notes has 6,633. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Standard Notes free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Standard Notes under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Standard Notes?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Standard Notes 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 Standard Notes?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Standard Notes if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.