EGroupware
EGroupware is pushing its old branch off a cliff on 15 August, and sweetening the landing with passkeys.
Comparison · Collab
Passbolt vs SiYuan
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Passbolt and SiYuan — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Passbolt vs SiYuan: at a glance
What is Passbolt?
Passbolt collapsed the Community-to-Pro upgrade into a settings toggle, then spent the next release on sharing transparency.
Three releases on a roughly monthly cadence, each named after a song. 5.12 took the Safari extension out of beta so it stands level with Chrome, Firefox and Edge, and added a PIN code resource type. 5.13 built on the 5.12 codebase unification to let administrators switch between Community and Pro editions from organisation settings, with no separate environment or manual migration. 5.14 added explicit confirmation dialogs before creating items in shared folders or editing shared resources, made group members visible in access lists, and fixed an MFA policy enforcement issue.
What is SiYuan?
SiYuan opened a 3.8 branch and put AI agents, embeddings search and MCP in the first alpha.
The 3.7.4 alpha series ran as pure enhancement work with cumulative notes — each alpha restates the previous list and adds a line or two — covering mobile and HarmonyOS parity, database view refinements, drag-and-drop polish, and sync performance. The first 3.8 alpha breaks that pattern with a Feature block: secure OIDC authentication, an AI Agent, semantic search using embeddings and reranking, and Model Context Protocol support.
Passbolt vs SiYuan: editorial side-by-side
Passbolt
2.5COLLAB
Passbolt collapsed the Community-to-Pro upgrade into a settings toggle, then spent the next release on sharing transparency.
◆ Current state
Three releases on a roughly monthly cadence, each named after a song. 5.12 took the Safari extension out of beta so it stands level with Chrome, Firefox and Edge, and added a PIN code resource type. 5.13 built on the 5.12 codebase unification to let administrators switch between Community and Pro editions from organisation settings, with no separate environment or manual migration. 5.14 added explicit confirmation dialogs before creating items in shared folders or editing shared resources, made group members visible in access lists, and fixed an MFA policy enforcement issue.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads are running at once. Commercially, the friction between the open-source edition and the paid one has been engineered away — evaluation is now a toggle rather than a deployment project. Product-wise, the focus has moved from storing secrets to showing users who can actually reach them, which is where self-hosted password managers usually lose enterprise deals. Both threads point at the same buyer: an admin at an organisation already running Community and considering Pro.
◆ Prediction
The sharing-visibility work looks unfinished — expect access review or permission audit surfaces to follow — and the in-app edition switch is a natural place for licence and trial handling to appear next.
SiYuan
6.3COLLAB
SiYuan opened a 3.8 branch and put AI agents, embeddings search and MCP in the first alpha.
◆ Current state
The 3.7.4 alpha series ran as pure enhancement work with cumulative notes — each alpha restates the previous list and adds a line or two — covering mobile and HarmonyOS parity, database view refinements, drag-and-drop polish, and sync performance. The first 3.8 alpha breaks that pattern with a Feature block: secure OIDC authentication, an AI Agent, semantic search using embeddings and reranking, and Model Context Protocol support.
◆ Where it's heading
Two years of this changelog have been editor and database ergonomics for a local-first note tool. The 3.8 opening moves the product into retrieval and agent territory in one step, and pairs it with OIDC — which suggests the target is shared or self-hosted deployments, not just single-user vaults. The mobile and HarmonyOS work continues underneath.
◆ Prediction
Expect the 3.8 alpha series to spend several releases stabilising the embedding and MCP surface, with the practical questions — which models, local or remote, and what leaves the vault — resolved in later alphas rather than this one.
Alternatives to Passbolt 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 Passbolt or SiYuan.
Ethico
The whistleblower hotline vendor is assembling a compliance suite, one module at a time.
Contractbook
Contract automation grows up: admin permission maps, 2FA, and forms that do their own arithmetic.
Tana
The knowledge graph quietly turned itself into a meetings product.
Miniflux
A minimal RSS reader that made passkeys the only way in, then went back to polishing the reading experience.
Shiori
A Go bookmark manager rebuilding itself around an API — and only ever shipping release candidates.
See all Passbolt alternatives → · See all SiYuan alternatives →
Recent activity from Passbolt and SiYuan
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1h agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.0-alpha.1 ⚡
- 2d agoSiYuan3.7.4-alpha.6 adds tab dragging and child documents from selection
- 3d agoSiYuan3.7.4-alpha.5 adds S Pen hover and configurable tab startup
- 3d agoSiYuan3.7.4-alpha.4 improves Pandoc storage and mobile fonts
- 5d agoSiYuan3.7.4-alpha.3 improves sync performance and database toolbars
- 7d agoPassbolt5.14.0: confirmation prompts before shared-folder changes
- 9d agoSiYuan3.7.4-alpha.2 improves opening rows from the relation selector
- 1mo agoPassbolt5.13.0: switch between Community and Pro from settings ⚡
- 2mo agoPassbolt5.12.0: Safari extension leaves beta, PIN code resource type
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Passbolt 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 Passbolt 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 Passbolt?
Top Passbolt alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Passbolt alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/passbolt 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.