Buku 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?
Compare Buku with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin RSSHub Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Linkwarden Omnivore FreshRSS Wallabag Shiori Linkding Fluent Reader Miniflux RSS-Bridge Winds Floccus NewsBlur TagSpaces Stringer yarr Shaarli Newsboat Feedbin CommaFeed Pinry Archivy LittleLink Grimoire Promnesia Read-later nono Reminiscence Pinkary Self-Hosted Readeck Espial Bookmark dashboard nono Benotes Servas Firefox Account Server omnom GoSuki NeonLink Linka Bookmarks Manager 42links Digibunch SyncMarks
Compare SiYuan with
choose an app… AppFlowy AFFiNE Memos Mark Text Joplin Plane Logseq Paperless-ngx Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Omnivore OpenProject Notesnook Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz VNote Wallabag MarkText Workspace Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces Papra DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry Archivy Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote BatNoter Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Atomic Server Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes WiseMapping MyTetra Mindwendel LibreKB Digimindmap memEx QST
Feature Buku SiYuan Category Bookmarks & Read-It-Later Notes & Knowledge Base License GPL-3.0 AGPL-3.0 Language Python TypeScript Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 64 MB 512 MB Deployment bare-metal, binary docker, binary, source GitHub stars ★ 7,177 ★ 45,670 First released 2015 2020 Replaces Delicious Notion, Evernote
Why pick each one
Choose Buku if… Scriptable and fast Portable database Lightweight Buku details Choose SiYuan if… Powerful block-based model Works offline and self-hosted SiYuan details
Frequently asked questions Is Buku or SiYuan better? Neither is universally better. SiYuan has the larger community, while Buku is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Buku and SiYuan free and open-source? Yes. Buku is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SiYuan under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Buku and SiYuan with Docker? Buku: check the project docs for container support. SiYuan: yes.