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Obsidian vs SiYuan: catalog facts
Obsidian	SiYuan
Free Free for everyone, including commercial use, in the vendor’s own words. Obsidian Sync and…	Freemium Most features are free, including for commercial use. The official cloud sync and assets…
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Browser extension	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Self-hosted
Notes are plain Markdown files in a folder you control, readable without the app Linking, backlinks, tags, graph view and fast search across the vault	Block-level references and two-way links with custom attributes SQL queries embedded inside notes for building your own views
The application is not open source, only the plugin ecosystem and the releases repository Syncing between devices means paying for Obsidian Sync or wiring up your own sync tool	Notes live in the app's own store rather than plain files in a folder The interface has a lot of concepts to learn at once
Downloadable app, Browser extension	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: AGPL-3.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.