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Comparison · Collab
HumHub vs SiYuan
A side-by-side editorial comparison of HumHub and SiYuan — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
HumHub vs SiYuan: at a glance
What is HumHub?
HumHub's public feed carries only betas, and 1.19's is mostly about surviving the upgrade.
The three releases visible here are all pre-release: 1.19.0-beta.1 in July, and 1.18.0-beta.6 and beta.5 before it. The 1.19 beta is dominated by upgrade-path and data-integrity repair — a foreign key violation that aborted the 1.19 comment content_id migration on databases with orphaned rows, a fatal error when deleting a user or running PurgeDeletedContents against content whose underlying record was gone, and a permissions fix where users with ManageSettings but not ManageModules were offered a Configure button on disabled modules. The 1.18 betas are ordinary polish: login screen layout, theme inheritance, validators, translations and installer fixes.
What is SiYuan?
SiYuan's 3.8 branch turns a local-first notebook into an agent-readable knowledge store.
SiYuan publishes near-daily alpha tags whose notes are cumulative, so each release restates the previous one's feature list and appends what is new. The 3.7.4 line was pure enhancement work — Android and HarmonyOS parity, export fidelity, Pandoc packaging, drag-and-drop and font handling. The 3.8.0 line, opened on 4 August, carries four genuinely new features that had no predecessor in 3.7.4: OIDC authentication, an AI Agent, semantic search via embeddings and reranking, and MCP support.
HumHub vs SiYuan: editorial side-by-side
HumHub
2.5COLLAB
HumHub's public feed carries only betas, and 1.19's is mostly about surviving the upgrade.
◆ Current state
The three releases visible here are all pre-release: 1.19.0-beta.1 in July, and 1.18.0-beta.6 and beta.5 before it. The 1.19 beta is dominated by upgrade-path and data-integrity repair — a foreign key violation that aborted the 1.19 comment content_id migration on databases with orphaned rows, a fatal error when deleting a user or running PurgeDeletedContents against content whose underlying record was gone, and a permissions fix where users with ManageSettings but not ManageModules were offered a Configure button on disabled modules. The 1.18 betas are ordinary polish: login screen layout, theme inheritance, validators, translations and installer fixes.
◆ Where it's heading
The 1.19 cycle is being spent making the migration survivable on real installations rather than adding capability, which is the usual shape when a schema change meets databases that have accumulated orphaned rows over years. The permission fix points the same way: tightening the boundary between managing settings and managing modules is cleanup of an authorisation model, not an extension of it.
◆ Prediction
Only beta tags appear in this feed, so a 1.19.0 stable is the obvious next milestone, but nothing here dates it. Note that the gap between the 1.18 betas and the 1.19 beta is roughly six months, which is the only cadence signal available.
SiYuan
6.3COLLAB
SiYuan's 3.8 branch turns a local-first notebook into an agent-readable knowledge store.
◆ Current state
SiYuan publishes near-daily alpha tags whose notes are cumulative, so each release restates the previous one's feature list and appends what is new. The 3.7.4 line was pure enhancement work — Android and HarmonyOS parity, export fidelity, Pandoc packaging, drag-and-drop and font handling. The 3.8.0 line, opened on 4 August, carries four genuinely new features that had no predecessor in 3.7.4: OIDC authentication, an AI Agent, semantic search via embeddings and reranking, and MCP support.
◆ Where it's heading
The mobile and export grind continues underneath, but the branch cut is where the direction changed. Semantic search plus MCP means the vault becomes queryable by meaning and reachable by external agents, while OIDC is the first real answer for multi-user or organizational deployment — a notable turn for a product built around single-user local storage. The alpha.3 addition of LAN peer-assisted sync acceleration points the same way: sync is being optimized for several devices, or several people, on one network.
◆ Prediction
Expect the 3.8 alphas to keep layering onto the AI Agent and MCP surfaces — most likely which blocks or notebooks an agent may read, since OIDC arriving in the same release implies identity is about to gate access rather than just login.
Alternatives to HumHub 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 HumHub or SiYuan.
Calibre-Web
A self-hosted ebook library growing one reader feature and one format at a time.
Elgg
A social-networking engine in careful maintenance across two supported branches.
NetNewsWire
NetNewsWire's release notes have become a log of other people's rate limits.
LibrePhotos
LibrePhotos folded five repositories into one and started versioning like a real product.
Asana
Asana is bolting an agent layer and a docs surface onto work management.
See all HumHub alternatives → · See all SiYuan alternatives →
Recent activity from HumHub and SiYuan
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.0-alpha.3 adds LAN peer-assisted sync acceleration
- 2d agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.0-alpha.2
- 2d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8 opens with AI Agent, semantic search, MCP, and OIDC ⚡
- 5d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.7.4-alpha.6: tab dragging, child docs, S Pen hover
- 6d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.7.4-alpha.5: database performance and mobile audio recording
- 6d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.7.4-alpha.4: S Pen popovers and export file handling
- 16d agoHumHub1.19 upgrade migration and orphaned content fixes
- 7mo agoHumHubLogin screen, theming and validator fixes
- 8mo agoHumHubGroup manager options and assorted UI fixes
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between HumHub and SiYuan?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. SiYuan is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is HumHub better than SiYuan?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. SiYuan is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to HumHub?
Top HumHub alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "HumHub alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/humhub 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.