Learn how Joplin and SiYuan differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these note-taking tools is best for you.
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Last 30 days
Last commit
Repository age
Version
License
Self-hosted
Repository

Both Joplin and SiYuan have their unique strengths and serve similar purposes effectively. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Both tools have similar popularity levels, with Joplin having 56,065 stars and SiYuan having 45,943 stars on GitHub. In terms of developer contributions, Joplin has 6,245 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.
SiYuan is growing faster, adding 552 stars in the last 30 days (+1.2%) against adding 351 stars for Joplin (+0.6%). SiYuan is the smaller project of the two, so it is closing the gap rather than extending a lead.
Both projects show recent activity, with Joplin last updated 9 hours ago and SiYuan 9 hours ago.
Both tools share common technology foundations, being built with JavaScript, CSS, Bash, Typescript, Python, SCSS. However, they differ in their additional technology choices: Joplin uses JSX, Rust, C, Objective-C, Java, Swift, C++, Ruby, Kotlin, MATLAB while SiYuan leverages Golang.
Joplin has been in development longer, starting 10 years ago, compared to SiYuan which began 6 years ago. This 3.7-year head start suggests Joplin may have more mature features and established processes.
SiYuan is licensed under AGPL-3.0, while Joplin's license terms are not publicly specified.
Both tools serve similar use cases in Note-Taking, Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). However, they also have distinct specializations: Joplin also focuses on Secure & Encrypted Notes.
Both Joplin and SiYuan offer self-hosting capabilities, giving you full control over your data and infrastructure.
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