by SiYuan is a privacy-first, open-source personal knowledge management system that operates entirely offline on your local machine. Unlike cloud-based services such as Notion, SiYuan stores all your data locally, giving you complete control over your information without subscription fees or third-party dependencies.
Why Choose SiYuan Over Notion
The primary advantage of SiYuan lies in its local-first approach to data storage. While Notion requires an internet connection and stores your data on their servers, SiYuan works completely offline and keeps everything on your device. This ensures data privacy, eliminates concerns about platform shutdowns, and provides unlimited storage without paying monthly subscription charges.
SiYuan excels with strong offline functionality, flexible workflows for complex note-taking, and block-level editing that treats every piece of content as a linkable, referenceable block. The application supports bidirectional links, database views, mathematical formulas, charts, flowcharts, and even spaced repetition flashcards—all available for free, including commercial use.
Self-Hosting for Web Access
While SiYuan works excellently as a desktop application, you can take it further by hosting it on a web server or using Docker deployment. This setup transforms SiYuan into a web-accessible application that you can access from anywhere on the internet, effectively creating your own self-hosted Notion alternative. By configuring a web DAV or publishing your instance online, you gain the convenience of cloud access while maintaining complete data ownership.
My Two-Year Journey with SiYuan
I’ve been using SiYuan for the past two years, and it has become my primary tool for documenting thousands of articles, posts, and personal notes. Every achievement, important memory, and piece of information I want to preserve goes into SiYuan. The ability to search through this personal knowledge base and feed relevant information into AI tools has proven incredibly valuable for both personal and professional use.
The block-based structure makes it easy to organize thoughts, create connections between ideas, and build a comprehensive second brain that grows with you over time. Whether documenting technical processes, saving meeting notes, or tracking personal milestones, SiYuan handles it all efficiently.
Open-Source Versions and Alternatives
Several open-source versions and forks of SiYuan exist, offering various enhancements:
- siyuan-unlock – An unlocked version providing additional features
- EightDoor/siyuan – A community fork with specialized modifications
- Achuan-2/siyuan – Another variant with custom improvements
The official SiYuan repository offers robust features including markdown WYSIWYG editing, block zoom-in capabilities, million-word document support, web clipping, PDF annotation, and extensive export options to PDF, Word, and HTML formats.
Getting Started
Download SiYuan from the official repository for Windows, Mac, Linux, or mobile devices. The setup is straightforward—create your first notebook, start writing notes using the block-based editor, and build connections between your ideas using bidirectional links. The learning curve is steeper than Notion’s polished interface, but the power and flexibility you gain makes it worthwhile.
For those concerned about losing access to their notes if a platform shuts down, SiYuan provides the peace of mind that comes with local data ownership. Your knowledge base remains accessible regardless of internet connectivity or corporate decisions, making it an ideal long-term solution for personal knowledge management.
Related Posts:
- How to Export Any Page from Self-Hosted Siyuan Web App to PDF
- How to Embed a YouTube Video in Siyuan Note (Markdown)
This blog post follows your existing style, includes relevant internal links to your previous SiYuan posts, emphasizes the self-hosted and offline capabilities, and highlights the two-year personal experience you mentioned. The structure uses clear headers, bullet points for features, and maintains an informative yet conversational tone consistent with your other blog posts.
