Comparison

Metion vs SiYuan

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Metion

This notebook tool prioritizes a superior writing experience using Markdown. It allows you to build knowledge bases, connect notes as networks, and offers a distraction-free Zen Mode. Data is stored freely in plain text files with built-in Git support for synchronization and version history.

Highlights
  • Markdown support
  • Knowledge base creation
  • Networked notes
  • Zen Mode writing
  • Open filesystem storage
  • Built-in Git sync
  • History versioning
Read full description

Metion is a notebook tool that focuses on the writing experience, uses Markdown as basic text syntax. ## Build Your Own Knowledge Base Metion 2.0 brings a new feature named "Knowledge Base", the plain text syntax, then becomes mindmap trees, or connected as a network... ## The Writing Experience is So Important Our goal is to create a great writing experience, specially for iPadOS, although it's not easy. Metion provides a relatively complete keyboard shortcuts support. After a keyboard connected, both iPad and iPhone can archive a huge improvement in writing experience. We also have redesigned the "Zen Mode" on iPad, a more focusing writing mode. It is very very beautiful, choosing a suitable background image, selecting the white noise you like in Zen Mode, and the irrelevant UI elements are hidden. Writing is a pleasure, writing is talking to the world, writing is your Zen. ## Data Freedom, Open Filesystem, Git Built-in Metion based on the open filesystem, no need to create another new format for storing data. An article is a plain text file, and the images in the article are also under a certain folder. Data freedom and open filesystems allow us to synchronize data across devices using iCloud or Git. If you have a higher requirement for data security, you can also make a backup very quickly by copying the entire folder (working directory). One more thing, Metion has a built-in support named "history version" that provides a little more reliability for your documents. **Also, if you know how to use Git, you can try Git to sync. Yes! We have the powerful Git as a built-in feature! ** ## Optimized for iPad Pro, Also for iPhone We tried the best to make Metion optimized for iPad Pro, when writing on iPad Pro by Metion, the iPad is a really more productive device. Metion is also optimized for the iPhone too. In recent years, most of the new iPhones have notch at the top of screen. Metion does not simply avoid the safe area, but makes a lot of technical efforts to apply every pixel on the screen as far as possible. If using the visual theme of "Dark", the notch sometimes look like disappeared, like the next generation of full-screen phone comes. ## The Exporting of Metion If using Metion to export as PDF, we suggest the theme of PDF can be set as "Printer" in Settings Panel. If there is a real printer connected in current local network, just print directly, it will be pretty when words on the real paper. Document in Metion can be exported as image, which is optimized for mobile device (iPhone). We can set text and QR-Code signature at the end of exported image. Send it to friends through some social Apps. The beautiful layout of text can highlight the value of your words. Metion can analyze the structure of current article automatically, then export it as "Mindmap" with one tap only. - - - - - - - - - - Privacy Policy: http://markeditor.com/privacy-policy.html Terms of Use: http://markeditor.com/page/terms.md

About

SiYuan

A privacy-focused personal knowledge management system that allows offline use and encrypted data synchronization. It combines blocks, outlines, and bidirectional links to help users organize and refine their thoughts.

Highlights
  • Privacy-first design
  • Offline data storage
  • End-to-end encrypted sync
  • Block-based organization
  • Outline structuring
  • Bidirectional linking
Features
Read full description

SiYuan is a privacy-first personal knowledge management system that supports complete offline use, as well as end-to-end encrypted data sync. Fuse blocks, outlines, and bidirectional links to refactor your thinking.

Screenshots

Metion4 screens
SiYuan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Metion at 4.3 against SiYuan's 4.0. Metion also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.0). SiYuan's advantage is review sentiment (68% vs 60%). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Metion sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and SiYuan sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Metion holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 46 and 29 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of Metion's written reviews are positive against 68% of SiYuan's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Metion ships an update every 2 weeks, SiYuan weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Metion versus SiYuan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMetionSiYuan
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (46 ratings) — better4.0 (29 ratings)
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews68.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings46 — better29
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB359 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperHangzhou Quanduan Technology Co., Ltd.Yunnan Liandi Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Metion

All ratings46 ratings
Positive84.8%
Neutral4.3%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral14.0%
Negative26.0%

SiYuan

All ratings29 ratings
Positive75.9%
Neutral3.4%
Negative20.7%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive68.4%
Neutral15.8%
Negative15.8%

Bugs and requests

Metion

Reported bugs

19 issues
  • Git sync not working
  • iCloud folder cannot be specified
  • Writing statistics not visible or crashing
  • Custom file sorting not working
  • New file creation bug (text pushed up)
Show 14 more
  • Hyperlinks only work with connected keyboard
  • Help documentation partially translated
  • PDF export formatting issues
  • App crashes when submitting bugs
  • iPhone gets hot and requires restart
  • App launches inconsistently, crashes, slow to switch folders
  • Undo function not supported, causes crash
  • App crashes on startup
  • Cannot open old documents (free version limit)
  • English input lacks auto-capitalization and spell check
  • Soft keyboard shortcut bar disappears
  • Character input issues causing extra spaces
  • Zen mode background color setting causes crashes
  • App crashes when trying to set Zen mode background

Requested features

35 requests
  • Optimize for phone usage
  • Add Windows version
  • Improve Git sync functionality
  • Allow specifying iCloud folder
  • Restore writing statistics feature
Show 30 more
  • Fix custom file sorting
  • Fix new file creation bugs
  • Improve hyperlink functionality on iPhone
  • Add Undo functionality
  • Fix app crashes on startup
  • Allow opening old documents
  • Improve English input (auto-capitalization, spell check)
  • Fix disappearing shortcut bar
  • Increase font size limit
  • Allow changing Zen mode background and text color
  • Fix PDF export formatting
  • Improve Russian translation
  • Simplify interface navigation
  • Improve interface glitchiness
  • Support existing markdown folders
  • Add more font choices
  • Fix character input issues
  • Increase maximum character limit
  • Add Dropbox or other cloud drive sync
  • Add password lock feature
  • Improve line spacing in Zen mode
  • Combine markdown preview and writing like Bear
  • Add floating TOC
  • Add dedicated preview button
  • Option to dilate interface scale
  • Add statistics for daily word count
  • Improve Zen mode text color
  • Add support for Chinese-to-English conversion
  • Add file system for recording information like Windows with graphical display and tags
  • Add statistics for word count

SiYuan

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Metion

Subscriptions2
  • 订阅公众号图片上传中转3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Subscribe Pro Extensions3 Days trial$6.991 Year
One-time1
  • Standard Edition (iOS+iPadOS)$17.99
2 purchases

SiYuan

One-time2
  • PRO Features$79.99
  • Subscription$188.99

Questions

Is Metion free?
Metion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SiYuan free?
SiYuan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Metion or SiYuan?
Metion is rated higher. Metion averages 4.3 out of 5 from 46 ratings, while SiYuan averages 4.0 from 29 ratings.
Do Metion or SiYuan have ads?
Neither Metion nor SiYuan shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Metion or SiYuan?
Metion ships an update every 2 weeks, and SiYuan weekly. Most recently, Metion was updated on September 21, 2026 and SiYuan on September 23, 2026.

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