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SiYuan vs Roam Research: catalog facts
SiYuan	Roam Research
Freemium Most features are free, including for commercial use. The official cloud sync and assets…	Paid Paid subscription; current plans are listed on the Roam Research site.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Self-hosted	Web
Block-level references and two-way links with custom attributes SQL queries embedded inside notes for building your own views	Linked notes for building a graph of ideas Outline-style writing that feels like a bulleted list
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	Little detail is published on the homepage Proprietary with no open-source version
Downloadable app, Self-hosted	Web application, Hosted service
Open source	Closed source
License: AGPL-3.0	License not stated
No account needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

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