MarkText Workspace 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?
MarkText Workspace
Self-hosted markdown document workspace
VS
SiYuan
Privacy-first personal knowledge management system
| Feature | MarkText Workspace | SiYuan |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Office Suites | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,572 | ★ 45,670 |
| First released | 2022 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Dropbox Paper, Notion | Notion, Evernote |
Why pick each one
Choose MarkText Workspace if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 12.6k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is MarkText Workspace or SiYuan better?
Neither is universally better. SiYuan has the larger community, while MarkText Workspace is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are MarkText Workspace and SiYuan free and open-source?
Yes. MarkText Workspace is licensed under MIT and SiYuan under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run MarkText Workspace and SiYuan with Docker?
MarkText Workspace: yes. SiYuan: yes.