head to head · open source
SiYuan vs XWiki
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars, 3,095 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. XWiki has 1,329 stars, 674 forks, 218 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SiYuan leads on adoption by 3,439% (47,039 vs 1,329 stars). SiYuan is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; XWiki is written in Java under LGPL-2.1. SiYuan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, XWiki 51%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| SiYuan | XWiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 674 |
| 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 XWiki if
- You want the XWiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and XWiki 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 XWiki
XWiki Platform XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. XWiki Commons, XWiki Rendering, and XWiki Platform are part of the XWiki.org software forge. They are released together and share the same version. Documentation API Development Zone Guides: Developer Guide Administrator Guide User Guide Download Read our Download and Installation instructions. Release Notes Read our Release Notes. Tools Continuous Integration setup launches a build for each commit. Issue Tracker, if you want to report an issue. Development Flow to see the full list of tools we…
read the full XWiki overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is SiYuan or XWiki more popular?
SiYuan has 47,039 GitHub stars and XWiki has 1,329. SiYuan has the larger community by that measure.
Are SiYuan and XWiki free?
Both are open source. SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and XWiki under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SiYuan and XWiki?
SiYuan is written in TypeScript and XWiki in Java. 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 XWiki?
Choose SiYuan if you want the larger community (47,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose XWiki if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.