head to head · open source
SiYuan vs thoughtdag
SiYuan has 46,580 GitHub stars, 3,029 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thoughtdag has 511 stars, 50 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan leads on adoption by 9,015% (46,580 vs 511 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; thoughtdag is written in TypeScript under MIT. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, thoughtdag 10%. thoughtdag was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (local-first), 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 | thoughtdag | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 511 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 50 |
| 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 thoughtdag if
- You want the thoughtdag feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and thoughtdag 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 thoughtdag
ThoughtDAG is an MIT licensed TypeScript application that turns LLM conversations into an editable thought graph on an infinite canvas, where each exchange becomes a node and the wires between nodes, rather than the whole transcript, decide what the model sees next; it is built for people who branch into side questions and want to keep the useful paths.
read the full thoughtdag overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or thoughtdag more popular?
SiYuan has 46,580 GitHub stars and thoughtdag has 511. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and thoughtdag free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and thoughtdag under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and thoughtdag?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and thoughtdag 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 thoughtdag?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,580 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose thoughtdag if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.