NoteDiscovery 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.
NoteDiscovery
Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
VS
SiYuan
Privacy-first personal knowledge management system
| Feature | NoteDiscovery | SiYuan |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,812 | ★ 46,488 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Obsidian, Notion | Notion, Evernote |
What are NoteDiscovery and SiYuan?
NoteDiscovery
NoteDiscovery is a self-hosted Markdown knowledge base featuring wikilinks, a graph view, a drawing editor, and LaTeX and Mermaid rendering. It is designed for building and exploring a connected personal knowledge base.
- Wikilinks and graph view
- Drawing editor
- LaTeX and Mermaid support
- Self-hosted knowledge base
SiYuan
SiYuan is an open-source, privacy-first personal knowledge management system that supports block-level references and bidirectional links. It can run locally or be self-hosted for access across devices.
- Block-level referencing
- Bidirectional links
- Self-hosted or local mode
- End-to-end encrypted sync
NoteDiscovery vs SiYuan: key differences
NoteDiscovery is written in JavaScript, while SiYuan is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for NoteDiscovery versus AGPL-3.0 for SiYuan. NoteDiscovery is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for SiYuan. SiYuan is the more established project (first released 2020), while NoteDiscovery arrived in 2024. SiYuan has the considerably larger community, at 46,488 GitHub stars versus 2,812.
Why pick each one
Choose NoteDiscovery if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Choose SiYuan if…
- Powerful block-based model
- Works offline and self-hosted
Watch out for
- Documentation strongest in Chinese
- Some advanced features are paid
Frequently asked questions
Is NoteDiscovery 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 NoteDiscovery and SiYuan free and open-source?
Yes. NoteDiscovery is licensed under MIT and SiYuan under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NoteDiscovery and SiYuan with Docker?
NoteDiscovery: yes. SiYuan: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, NoteDiscovery or SiYuan?
NoteDiscovery has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for SiYuan. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.