SHSelfHostIndex

Note Mark vs SiYuan

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
NO Note Mark Minimal web-based Markdown notes app VS SI SiYuan Privacy-first personal knowledge management system
FeatureNote MarkSiYuan
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, binary, source
GitHub stars★ 760★ 45,670
First released20262020
Replaces—Notion, Evernote

Why pick each one

Choose Note Mark if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Note Mark details

Choose SiYuan if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Note Mark 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 Note Mark and SiYuan free and open-source?

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

Can I run Note Mark and SiYuan with Docker?

Note Mark: yes. SiYuan: yes.

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