ArchiveBox vs SiYuan

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureArchiveBoxSiYuan
CategoryBookmarks & Read-It-LaterNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 28,079★ 45,670
First released20172020
ReplacesPocketNotion, Evernote

Why pick each one

Choose ArchiveBox if…

  • Thorough page preservation
  • Imports from many sources
  • Open formats
ArchiveBox details

Choose SiYuan if…

  • Powerful block-based model
  • Works offline and self-hosted
SiYuan details

Frequently asked questions

Is ArchiveBox or SiYuan better?

Neither is universally better. SiYuan has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are ArchiveBox and SiYuan free and open-source?

Yes. ArchiveBox is licensed under MIT and SiYuan under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ArchiveBox and SiYuan with Docker?

ArchiveBox: yes. SiYuan: yes.

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