8 Best SiYuan Alternatives in 2026 (Open Source)
SiYuan — An open-source, privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge workspace where humans and AI agents work together 开源、隐私优先、自托管的知识工作空间，让人与智能体在此协作. Combines privacy-first, self-hosted knowledge management with native AI agent collaboration features for structured human-AI teamwork.
These 8 open-source tools do the same job. They are ordered by how closely they match SiYuan, with live GitHub data so you can see which projects are actively maintained.
| Tool | GitHub stars | Stars / 30d | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| SiYuan(original) | 46.6k | +3,882 | 2026-09-29 |
| Knowledge | 1.5k | +-0 | 2025-11-27 |
| AnythingLLM | 66.6k | +1,564 | 2026-09-30 |
| Open WebUI | 153.6k | +3,959 | 2026-09-21 |
| Khoj | 37.5k | +3,129 | 2026-08-02 |
| private-gpt | 57.6k | +56 | 2026-09-21 |
| WeKnora | 31.5k | +2,623 | 2026-09-30 |
| Casibase | 5.7k | +191 | 2026-09-29 |
| LibreChat | 45.2k | +1,629 | 2026-09-30 |
1. Knowledge
Knowledge is a tool for saving, searching, accessing, exploring and chatting with all of your favorite websites, documents and files.
What sets it apart: vs Notion/Obsidian: built-in Chromium browser + AI chat for conversational knowledge exploration with graph visualization — though no longer maintained
Best for: Personal knowledge management with AI-powered exploration; Researchers wanting graph-based knowledge organization
2. AnythingLLM
The all-in-one AI productivity accelerator. On device and privacy first with no annoying setup or configuration.
What sets it apart: Unlike Open WebUI (chat-only) or RAGFlow (enterprise RAG focus), AnythingLLM is the most complete all-in-one desktop AI app combining RAG, no-code agent builder, MCP compatibility, multi-user support, and embeddable widgets — requiring zero coding to set up a private AI workspace.
Best for: Non-technical users who want a private, all-in-one ChatGPT replacement with document chat and agents; Small teams needing a self-hosted multi-user AI workspace with RAG and agent capabilities
3. Open WebUI
User-friendly AI Interface (Supports Ollama, OpenAI API, ...)
What sets it apart: Unlike LM Studio (desktop-only, personal use), Open WebUI is a full multi-user platform with RAG, RBAC, SCIM provisioning, 9 vector DBs, and Google Drive/OneDrive integration — the most feature-complete self-hosted ChatGPT alternative
Best for: Teams wanting a self-hosted ChatGPT alternative with full data control and Ollama integration; Organizations needing enterprise-grade AI platform with LDAP/SCIM/SSO and multiple vector DB backends
4. Khoj
Your AI second brain. Self-hostable. Get answers from the web or your docs. Build custom agents, schedule automations, do deep research. Turn any online or loca
What sets it apart: Open-source, self-hostable platform that scales from personal on-device AI to enterprise agents with custom knowledge and tools.
Best for: Users wanting self-hosted personal AI agents; Building custom agents for automation and research; Extending capabilities with local or cloud LLMs
5. private-gpt
Interact with your documents using the power of GPT, 100% privately, no data leaks
What sets it apart: vs LocalGPT / other private RAG: production-ready OpenAI-compatible API with LlamaIndex backend, dependency injection architecture, and enterprise upgrade path via Zylon — canonical repo (zylon-ai/private-gpt) for PrivateGPT
Best for: Regulated industries needing fully private document Q&A (healthcare, legal, finance); Teams wanting an OpenAI-compatible API for private RAG; Developers building private AI apps with production-ready primitives
6. WeKnora
Open-source LLM knowledge platform: turn raw documents into a queryable RAG, an autonomous reasoning agent, and a self-maintaining Wiki.
What sets it apart: Combines RAG retrieval, autonomous reasoning agents, and self-maintaining wikis in a single open-source platform with persistent sandbox execution and enterprise-grade permissions.
Best for: Enterprise document understanding and reasoning; Building autonomous agents with persistent sandboxes; Creating self-maintaining knowledge bases from documents
7. Casibase
⚡️AI Cloud OS: Open-source enterprise-level AI knowledge base and MCP (model-context-protocol)/A2A (agent-to-agent) management platform with admin UI, user management and Single-Sign-On⚡️, supports Ch
What sets it apart: vs other knowledge base platforms: Enterprise-grade open-source AI Cloud OS with built-in SSO (Casdoor), admin UI, MCP/A2A agent management, and support for 10+ LLM providers out of the box
Best for: Enterprise teams needing a self-hosted AI knowledge base with admin UI; Organizations requiring SSO and user management for AI chatbots; Multi-model AI platform deployment with MCP/A2A support
8. LibreChat
Enhanced ChatGPT Clone: Features Agents, MCP, DeepSeek, Anthropic, AWS, OpenAI, Responses API, Azure, Groq, o1, GPT-5, Mistral, OpenRouter, Vertex AI, Gemini, Artifacts, AI model switching, message se
What sets it apart: Most feature-complete self-hosted ChatGPT alternative — uniquely combines agents, MCP, code interpreter, image gen, and multi-user auth in one package, unlike single-provider UIs
Best for: Organizations wanting a private, self-hosted ChatGPT replacement; Teams needing multi-user AI platform with access control and audit
FAQ
- What are the best alternatives to SiYuan?
- The closest open-source alternatives to SiYuan are Knowledge, AnythingLLM and Open WebUI, followed by Khoj, private-gpt and WeKnora. They are ranked by how closely they match what SiYuan does.
- Which SiYuan alternative is the most popular?
- Open WebUI has the most GitHub stars among SiYuan alternatives, with 153,644 stars.
- Which SiYuan alternative is the most actively maintained?
- By recent activity, Open WebUI (1,515 commits in the last 90 days) is the most actively developed alternative.