Personal Knowbase vs SiYuan
Personal Knowbase
bitsmithsoft.com
SiYuan
b3log.orgSide by side
| Figure | Personal Knowbase | SiYuan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $24.95/mo | $148/mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 11 | 4 |
| Spec score · Personal Knowledge Management Software | 8.0 (#22) | 8.5 (#12) |
| Spec score · Note-taking apps | 7.7 (#157) | 9.1 (#12) |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Note sharing | Yes | Yes |
| Offline access | Yes | Yes |
| Supported platforms | windows | Windows,macOS,Linux,iOS,Android,web interface,Chrome/Edge extension,API,Docker self-hosting |
| Purpose | Personal Knowbase organizes free-form notes, messages, and ideas using user-chosen keywords. | SiYuan describes itself as a privacy-first personal knowledge management system supporting Markdown, block-level references, and bidirectional links. |
Plans
Personal Knowbase
- 1–2 copies$49.95 a month
- 1–2 copies$49.95, paid once
- 3–9 copies$37.95 a month
- 3–9 copies$37.95, paid once
- 10–24 copies$33.95, paid once
- 10–24 copies$33.95 a month
- 25–49 copies$28.95 a month
- 25–49 copies$28.95, paid once
- 50+ copies$24.95 a month
- 50+ copies$24.95, paid once
SiYuan
- FreeFree
- Subscription$148 a month
- PRO Features$64, paid once
- Subscription$148, paid once
In their own words
Personal Knowbase
Personal Knowbase has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
SiYuan
SiYuan is a personal knowledge management system for building a linked collection of notes. It supports Markdown, block-level references and bidirectional links, and organizes content into blocks with more than 20 block-level and more than 10 span-level element types. Backlinks can be filtered and searched; relationship graphs are available across a notebook and at block level. Databases support relations, rollups and templates, while flashcards use the FSRS spaced-repetition algorithm. Its AI feature connects to OpenAI for writing continuation, translation, summaries, brainstorming and grammar or spelling corrections. SiYuan supports offline access, and the maker describes multi-device synchronization as incremental and end-to-end encrypted. It is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and the web, with a Chrome/Edge extension, API and Docker self-hosting. The maker says data stays under the user's control on their device. Free access is free; PRO Features is listed at $64 a month with lifetime-use wording, and Subscription at $148 a month with 8GB cloud storage.