# SiYuan vs piley

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: piley at none against SiYuan's 2. piley also leads on iOS requirement (15.3 vs 17.0). SiYuan's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. SiYuan sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. piley asks for nothing beyond the download.

SiYuan ships an update weekly, piley every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | SiYuan | piley |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.0 (29 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/siyuan/id1583226508/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **29** | — |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Every 7 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 419 MB | 41 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **15.3** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Yunnan Liandi Technology Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1583226510) | [Denis Koljada](https://appshunter.io/developer/1796585745) |

## What reviewers say

### SiYuan

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/siyuan/id1583226508)

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:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PRO Features | $79.99 | one-time |
| Subscription | $188.99 | one-time |


### piley

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/piley/id6742054302)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is SiYuan free?

SiYuan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is piley free?

piley is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do SiYuan or piley have ads?

Neither SiYuan nor piley shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, SiYuan or piley?

SiYuan ships an update weekly, and piley every 7 months. Most recently, SiYuan was updated on October 15, 2026 and piley on September 30, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*