I hope my question isn't bothering anyone. I see that SiYuan is an excellent tool as a second brain, and I like it more than Obsidian, but I still have my doubts about whether it's worth migrating. Since I'm new to both tools, I'd like someone to explain the differences and advantages between them so I can make my decision.
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cirsid • • 1PRO
I haven't got a definitive pros and cons, but you could probably get that using ChatGPT or Gemini. I used Obsidian for a long while, but in the end I didn't like paying a monthly subscription to sync my notes, and couldn't get other Obsidian options to work cleanly. I also became annoyed with the number of plugins I had to use and maintain to make things work how I wanted.
Obsidian is a great tool and has huge community engagement, but I've found SiYuan a more complete PKM implementation which looks great and does everything I need, and I still retain control of my data.
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Siysuy • • 1
I have been using Siyuan for a long while. Obsidian I have used far less. I do find Siyuan superior and havent regretted or had any desire to switch back to obsidian. If you do commit to migration to siyuan from obsidian, obviously there isnt an ideal back and forth migration (between siy vs obs) that retains all document structures, backlinks perfectly intact last I tested 6 months back, mainly because the syntaxes differ (and features differ) between the two apps for creating backlinks. I have seen some third-party tools specific to migration, and since 6 months there might be better solutions I havent figured out
Siyuan Excels in:
- editing: where Obsidian can still be a little quirky, rather Siyuan has flawless consistency editing paragraphs, code block, lists, embedded blocks and not to forget moving any block types around. Moving blocks and nesting blocks also feels superior in Siyuan
- Backup/restore: Siyuan can backup of entire workspace, partial documents, migrate to new workspaces while retaining prior structures and context flawlessly. I havent had any issues starting anew, creating temporary workspaces. I have less understanding how Obsidian deals with deep backup/restore that much, but Siyuan wont leave you hanging or yurning obsidian.
There is more to be said and compare, but basically, Siyuan never left me hanging or desiring a switch. The core features of siyuan (some mentioned above) as stable PKM were superior, where Obsidian (and switching between edit view vs reading view) seems more quirky.
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AlexSlender •Author
Thanks for sharing your experience. I totally agree, and I'm amazed that there is so little information on the web (at last at Youtube) about SiYuan, having such great and many features! I met the app by this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L3txd8_Psk&list=PLE_pXle7cark. Is SiYuan so young in the market? The only thing that makes me doubt for buying SiYuan is if the WebDAV sync will really work for me. I got a koofr account and I'm happy how it works for other apps I use, but by now I couldn't make it work with Obsidian plugins. I'm not sure if I'm wrong setting it up. They are not so clear in instructions.
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