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Comparison · Collab
Guru vs SiYuan
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Guru and SiYuan — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Guru vs SiYuan: at a glance
What is Guru?
Guru's Knowledge Agents get the plumbing that makes their answers checkable and safe.
Guru's late-October releases all serve the Knowledge Agent. Agents can now return the records behind an analytical answer, read SCIM-provisioned profile attributes such as department and manager, and choose from sources admins can rename. On the governance side, DLP masking now covers what users type before it is logged or sent to the LLM, and each agent gets its own chat retention window of 1 to 90 days.
What is SiYuan?
SiYuan's third 3.8.10 alpha adds a built-in Markdown editor and video looping.
SiYuan opened the 3.8.10 line on Oct 31 with workspace-level long-term memory for AI, database sub-items, HTTP requests in templates and an Exa key for built-in web search. Alpha.3 on Nov 2 grows the list to 19 items, adding a built-in lightweight Markdown editor, loop playback for video blocks, configurable floating dock visibility and a command-line switch for the fixed-port proxy. No stable 3.8.9 appears in the feed, so rc.1 is the last visible milestone for that line.
Guru vs SiYuan: editorial side-by-side
Guru
5.0COLLAB
Guru's Knowledge Agents get the plumbing that makes their answers checkable and safe.
◆ Current state
Guru's late-October releases all serve the Knowledge Agent. Agents can now return the records behind an analytical answer, read SCIM-provisioned profile attributes such as department and manager, and choose from sources admins can rename. On the governance side, DLP masking now covers what users type before it is logged or sent to the LLM, and each agent gets its own chat retention window of 1 to 90 days.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from giving agents write access to making them auditable. Mid-October brought a rebuilt Teams app with AI answers, MCP image uploads into card drafts and answer editing for skills-based agents; late October shifted to data controls and to answers that show their workings. Guru is treating the agent as the main interface and the card base as what it works on.
◆ Prediction
Expect the stated Mermaid gap in Slack, email and exports to close, and more per-agent settings in the Guardrails section where retention now sits.
SiYuan
5.0COLLAB
SiYuan's third 3.8.10 alpha adds a built-in Markdown editor and video looping.
◆ Current state
SiYuan opened the 3.8.10 line on Oct 31 with workspace-level long-term memory for AI, database sub-items, HTTP requests in templates and an Exa key for built-in web search. Alpha.3 on Nov 2 grows the list to 19 items, adding a built-in lightweight Markdown editor, loop playback for video blocks, configurable floating dock visibility and a command-line switch for the fixed-port proxy. No stable 3.8.9 appears in the feed, so rc.1 is the last visible milestone for that line.
◆ Where it's heading
SiYuan runs fast alpha and beta cycles where each build extends a cumulative list. The AI agent and databases get the larger features, while editor and mobile items fill the rest.
◆ Prediction
Expect more 3.8.10 alphas with a growing list before a beta; whether 3.8.9 ships as stable first is unclear from the feed.
Alternatives to Guru and SiYuan
Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Guru or SiYuan.
Hive
Hive keeps polishing dashboards: donut charts, project-date windows, and desktop split view.
Nextcloud Desktop
Nextcloud Desktop 35 settles into patch mode, rolling back an inode change and fixing setup errors
Pydio Cells
Cells 5.1 gives tag values their own access policies, and 5.1.1 makes them hold up.
Radarr
Radarr's 7.0 pre-release line now shows every audio and subtitle stream per file.
GitLab
GitLab is turning its platform into the context layer agents and security teams query, not just a code host.
Recent activity from Guru and SiYuan
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3h agoGuruOctober Release Roundup Video
- 1d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.10 alpha 3 adds a built-in Markdown editor
- 2d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.10 alpha 2 (same notes as alpha 1)
- 3d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.10 alpha 1 adds AI workspace memory, database sub-items
- 4d agoGuruRename Sources and Folders or Drives
- 4d agoGuruKnowledge Agents Can Now Return the Records Behind the Numbers
- 4d agoGuruSCIM Now Fills in Guru Profile Attributes
- 6d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.9 RC1: AI agent extracts images from PDFs
- 6d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.9 beta 6 (same notes as beta 5)
- 7d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.9 beta 5: full notes incl. pinned agent sessions
- 8d agoGuruMermaid diagrams in cards and Chat
- 8d agoGuruSet chat thread retention for each Knowledge Agent
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Guru and SiYuan?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Guru and SiYuan are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Guru better than SiYuan?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Guru and SiYuan are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 5.0 vs 5.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Guru?
Top Guru alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Guru alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/guru for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to SiYuan?
Top SiYuan alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SiYuan alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/siyuan for the full list with editorial commentary on each.