You would think that after writing nearly every day for the past four years, I would have figured out the best way to take notes on my PC by now. But that wasn’t the case. Between using Keep Notes for syncing across my devices or Gemini features, or just hopping into Notepad on my Windows 11 PC to jot down a few ideas, I wanted something a bit beefier and more exciting.
That’s why I was thrilled when one of my editors mentioned a program that I had never even heard of before. SiYuan Note. A privacy-first, self-hosted note-taking application that takes some of my favorite features from online word processors and CMS programs, melding them all into one. Regardless of the project that I’m working on, I’ve fallen head over heels for this open-source program.
Block editors are my favorite
Simple commands make taking notes and adding media a breeze
Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time with different Content Management Systems, but one has been used far more than others — WordPress. Most websites that I’ve worked for in the past have used WordPress as their main CMS, and because of that, I’ve grown incredibly used to some of the particular Block Editor shortcuts. I was shocked after launching SiYuan Note for the first time that these same shortcuts worked here with no issue.
Creating new headers, inserting images, and everything else comes incredibly naturally here. Putting in “##” to use an H2, or “/image” to toss in a picture, is instinctive to me, and something I’ve been craving for the longest time. That alone was enough to put this at the top of my favorite apps, but there’s so much more that I immediately enjoyed.
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There are a vast number of plug-ins to play around with
I can customize my notes exactly how I’d like to
Much like many web-based editors or creation platforms, SiYuan Note gives users an extensive library of plug-ins to customize their note-taking experience however they’d like. Options range from visual customizations to additional features, such as image editors within the program. There’s a plug-in for nearly everything, and if there isn’t one now, one of the many dedicated fans will likely make one in the future.
These plug-ins range from incredibly simple tweaks to something like Tomato Toolbox, an incredibly compact yet powerful option to supercharge your notes. Status bars, automatic exports, backlinks, and so much more can be added with just a single plug-in. I can only imagine what power users are capable of doing with tools like this.
SiYuan Note is available offline, anytime
Privacy is the primary reason folks seem to love SiYuan Note
According to the official SiYuan website, data is stored entirely on the device that is under the control of the user. Even if you decide to upgrade to an account that has cloud sync, every note in SiYuan is encrypted and transferred via HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure), unlike other services. For example, Google Keep does use encryption, but does not offer E2EE (end-to-end encryption), so they could potentially access your data without you realizing it. SiYuan offers E2EE, making it one of the most secure note-taking apps around.
Even if your internet goes down, everything will still be available to mess with. The number of times Google Keep or Google Docs has gone down due to a temporary internet outage has been infuriating, and the price of Microsoft Office just keeps going out of control. At this point, I’ve got more features, a tight block editor, and plenty of free plug-ins that don’t cost me a cent. Well, unless I want to sync my data in the cloud.
- OS
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Windows, Linux, macOS
- Developer
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Yunnan Liandi Technology Co., Ltd.
- Price model
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Free, Open-source
Some features are locked behind an expensive paywall
It may be worth it to some, but I’m not one of those people
Some folks may be interested in syncing their data to the cloud, so they can access all their notes from anywhere. If you’re hoping to enable that particular feature, you’re going to need to shell out for an Annual Subscription account, which runs in the ballpark of $148. For features such as cloud backup, that’s a bit out of my price range, but I could see some folks loving that particular idea. From what I’ve seen and read, however, local sync or self-hosted sync can be free, but I have not tested that for myself.
The free, basic plan offers exactly what you’d expect — an astonishingly good note-taking application. If you feel comfortable trusting 3rd-party backup services, you could purchase the PRO Features tier for $64. Will I be doing that? Likely not, seeing as I primarily take notes only on my desktop, but if I notice that things are starting to go south and I want to save my work, that could be an option I look into. But for my personal use case, I’m more than fine with the basic plan.
For word processing or note-taking, SiYuan Note is my new favorite
Privacy, customization, and plenty of reasons to try it out
While Obsidian may be preferred by some, the addition of the block-based editor is what truly won me over in the end. Both of these are fantastic products, but if you’ve had any experience with using block editors in the past, you’ll understand why I prefer SiYuan over Obsidian.
If SiYuan doesn’t seem like your cup of tea, that’s totally respectable. There are a ton of phenomenal PKMS apps available across a wide variety of devices. But now that I’ve discovered an editor that feels just like my most-used CMS, I’m not looking back.
