Syncthing
Syncthing 2.1.7 hits a fourth release candidate as fixes move from protocol to sync logic.
Comparison · Collab
SiYuan vs Trilium Notes
A side-by-side editorial comparison of SiYuan and Trilium Notes — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
SiYuan vs Trilium Notes: at a glance
What is SiYuan?
SiYuan's second 3.8.9 alpha in a day adds TIFF previews and depth limits for automation.
SiYuan ran 3.8.8 through six alphas and four betas in about four days, rolling up Gemini and DeepSeek agent support and database automation. The 3.8.9 line opened with pinned agent sessions and mind-map node copy-paste; alpha.2 adds TIFF previews, sync checkout progress and cancellation, mobile bottom backlinks, a subdocument-depth limit for database automation scopes and consolidated workspace AI instructions.
What is Trilium Notes?
Trilium spent a year adding what notes can hold; now it is fixing what happens to them.
Trilium Notes is a self-hosted hierarchical note application with an unusually broad content model — text, code, canvases, mind maps, and since 0.103.0 spreadsheets with formulas and OCR-extracted text from images, PDFs and Office files. Releases are large, quarterly, and explicit about breakage. The current release turns that attention inward: the database itself becomes something you can measure, clean, repair, and restore.
SiYuan vs Trilium Notes: editorial side-by-side
SiYuan
5.0COLLAB
SiYuan's second 3.8.9 alpha in a day adds TIFF previews and depth limits for automation.
◆ Current state
SiYuan ran 3.8.8 through six alphas and four betas in about four days, rolling up Gemini and DeepSeek agent support and database automation. The 3.8.9 line opened with pinned agent sessions and mind-map node copy-paste; alpha.2 adds TIFF previews, sync checkout progress and cancellation, mobile bottom backlinks, a subdocument-depth limit for database automation scopes and consolidated workspace AI instructions.
◆ Where it's heading
The release rhythm is a fast alpha-to-beta loop with a new minor every few days, mixing agent features with editor and sync polish. Database automation is gaining scoping controls release by release, and the agent is becoming a persistent workspace object rather than a side panel.
◆ Prediction
Expect more 3.8.9 alphas, then betas, within days. The entries still show no 3.8.8 stable, so it's unclear whether the betas promote or roll straight into the next line.
Trilium Notes
6.3COLLAB
Trilium spent a year adding what notes can hold; now it is fixing what happens to them.
◆ Current state
Trilium Notes is a self-hosted hierarchical note application with an unusually broad content model — text, code, canvases, mind maps, and since 0.103.0 spreadsheets with formulas and OCR-extracted text from images, PDFs and Office files. Releases are large, quarterly, and explicit about breakage. The current release turns that attention inward: the database itself becomes something you can measure, clean, repair, and restore.
◆ Where it's heading
Two arcs run in parallel. One expands what a note can be, peaking with the spreadsheet note type and OCR that feeds extracted text into search. The other is about trust in the thing holding your knowledge base — a coordinated security release in April, then 0.105.0 shipping backup restore, a cleanup tool that honours versioning limits, compaction, integrity repair, and a space-usage treemap. The AI layer is being made self-hostable in the same spirit, moving from a fixed vendor model list to dynamic retrieval plus Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible provider. Breaking changes are frequent and documented up front rather than smuggled in.
◆ Prediction
The two features the maintainer explicitly links to funding — an official mobile application and multi-user support — are the stated backlog; nearer term, expect the spreadsheet note type to leave beta and the newly networked MCP interface to gain more surface.
Alternatives to SiYuan and Trilium Notes
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 SiYuan or Trilium Notes.
Teable
Teable tries a chat-first workspace: the grid becomes one output of an AI conversation.
Elgg
Elgg ships paired 7.1.2 and 6.3.9 patches: both branches stay in maintenance mode.
Hive
Hive gives clients a passwordless portal for every proof waiting on them, across companies.
GitHub
GitHub previews a package firewall that blocks malicious dependencies at install time.
Wiki.js
Wiki.js 3.0 beta adds live notes that can be published straight to pages.
See all SiYuan alternatives → · See all Trilium Notes alternatives →
Recent activity from SiYuan and Trilium Notes
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.9 alpha.2 adds TIFF previews and automation depth limits
- 3d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.9 alpha.1 adds pinned agent sessions and mind-map copy
- 3d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.8 beta.4 rebuild with unchanged release notes
- 4d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.8 beta.3 rebuild with unchanged release notes
- 4d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.8 beta.2 fixes iOS double-tap selection
- 5d agoSiYuanSiYuan 3.8.8 beta 1 rolls up Gemini, DeepSeek and database automation
- 2mo agoTrilium NotesBackups become restorable and the database becomes manageable ⚡
- 3mo agoTrilium NotesLLM providers become dynamic and self-hostable; OneNote import hardened
- 3mo agoTrilium NotesRelease-preparation tag for v0.104.0
- 5mo agoTrilium NotesSpreadsheet notes and OCR-backed search arrive ⚡
- 6mo agoTrilium NotesCoordinated security release across content handling and the desktop app
- 7mo agoTrilium NotesHotfix for mind map rendering and PDF viewer regressions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SiYuan and Trilium Notes?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Trilium Notes is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 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 SiYuan better than Trilium Notes?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Trilium Notes is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to Trilium Notes?
Top Trilium Notes alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Trilium Notes alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/trilium for the full list with editorial commentary on each.