ONLYOFFICE vs siyuan
Is it time to switch? We break down the differences so you can stop bleeding money.
Choose siyuan.
If you want to own your data, save money, and avoid vendor lock-in, siyuan is more popular among developers.
What Actually Matters
No fluff — just the differences that affect your decision
Both are open source under AGPL-3.0. No lock-in on either side — pick based on fit, not fear.
Both can run on your own metal with Docker. Full data ownership, no cloud dependency. We have deploy guides for each.
siyuan has the bigger crowd: 46.7k stars vs 7.0k. More contributors, more integrations, more momentum.
ONLYOFFICE is built in Shell, siyuan in TypeScript. Matters if you want to contribute, extend, or debug internals.
Try both — most offer free tiers. The right pick depends on your stack size, team, and tolerance for DevOps.
ONLYOFFICE
Powerful online document editors for text, spreadsheets, and presentations. Highly compatible with MS Office.
Why Choose ONLYOFFICE
- ✓Full-featured collaborative editing for docs, sheets, and slides
- ✓Drop-in MS Office compatibility with high-fidelity rendering
- ✓Self-hosted integration with Nextcloud, Seafile, and more
Drawbacks
- ×Self-hosting can be complex
siyuan
Self-hosted personal knowledge management software built with TypeScript and Go, providing a private note-taking platform.
Why Choose siyuan
- ✓Built with TypeScript and Go — high-performance backend
- ✓Self-hosted solution — full control over data
- ✓AGPL-3.0 license — free to use and modify
Drawbacks
- ×Self-hosting can be complex
- ×Smaller ecosystem compared to proprietary alternatives
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