head to head · open source
SiYuan vs Tolaria
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars, 3,012 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tolaria has 19,807 stars, 1,381 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan leads on adoption by 134% (46,409 vs 19,807 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Tolaria is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. SiYuan has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Tolaria 7%. 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 | Tolaria | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 20K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| 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 Tolaria if
- You want the Tolaria 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 Tolaria 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 Tolaria
Tolaria is an open source desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux, written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It manages markdown knowledge bases as local files, with each vault stored as a Git repository. The project lives in the personal knowledge management ecosystem as a local first, Git native tool for second brains, company documentation used as AI context, and assistant memory or procedures.
read the full Tolaria overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or Tolaria more popular?
SiYuan has 46,409 GitHub stars and Tolaria has 19,807. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and Tolaria free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Tolaria under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and Tolaria?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and Tolaria 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 Tolaria?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (46,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Tolaria if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.