DS note vs SiYuan
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DS note
Create, organize, and share notes anywhere, even offline. This app syncs with your personal cloud storage, allowing you to manage to-do lists, project information, and memories. Organize with tags, notebooks, and shortcuts for easy access and sharing.
- Note creation and editing
- Offline access
- Tagging and notebook organization
- Note sharing
- Sync with Synology NAS
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**You must own a Synology NAS to run this app, and be running the Note Station 1.1 to get the complete set of features** Whether for creating your weekly to-do list, sharing information on projects with your teammates, or simply describing your best holiday memories, DS note’s editing features make it easy and pleasant to take note of anything you want, anywhere you need, even with no network. Use tags, notebooks and shortcuts to organise all your notes, and share them instantly with anyone you want. And that’s always safe as DS note keeps it all in sync with your note library on your Synology NAS server, your personal cloud. Find all detailed features about the app on our website: https://www.synology.com/dsm/software_spec/note_station
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.
- Privacy-first design
- Offline data storage
- End-to-end encrypted sync
- Block-based organization
- Outline structuring
- Bidirectional linking
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: SiYuan at 4.0 against DS note's 2.8. SiYuan also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months). DS note's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and device support (4 vs 2). On price 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
Both are free to download. SiYuan sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. DS note asks for nothing beyond the download.
SiYuan holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 109 and 29 respectively.
DS note ships an update every 3 months, SiYuan weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DS note | SiYuan |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (109 ratings) | 4.0 (29 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 68.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 109 — better | 29 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 359 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Synology Inc. | Yunnan Liandi Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
DS note
SiYuan
Bugs and requests
DS note
Reported bugs
26 issues- Notes content erased when leaving app open
- App crashes on startup
- App crashes when using Apple Pencil
- App crashes during text input with swipe-to-text
- App crashes when printing
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- Keyboard disappears during note editing
- Cannot paste text from clipboard
- Arrow keys non-functional in note body
- Sync stuck at certain percentage
- Login failures with QuickConnect
- HTTPS connection not working on iOS
- Formatting changes after sync between devices
- Shared notes don't sync properly
- Copy-paste causes font changes
- Phantom bullets in lists after paste
- Cursor control issues in text editing
- Images not displaying or loading slowly
- Voice input crashes app
- Checklist items not syncing in shared notes
- iPad version text input issues
- Incompatibility with iOS 14 and 15
- DynDNS connection broken after updates
- Sync conflicts between devices
- Search returns irrelevant results
- Notification functionality unreliable
- iPad Pro resolution not interpreted correctly
Requested features
26 requests- Dark mode for all platforms
- Apple Pencil support for iPad
- Arrow key support for Bluetooth keyboards
- Auto-save functionality
- Offline mode for note creation
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- Markdown support
- Code block formatting
- Table creation and editing
- PDF import and annotation
- Export to PDF and other formats
- Nested notebooks/folders (sub-notes)
- Drag-and-drop file attachments
- Web clipper browser extension
- Recurring tasks/reminders
- Task assignment to other users
- Calendar integration
- Improved search functionality
- Import from Evernote (.enex files)
- Widgets for home screen
- Better formatting options
- Image editing and markup
- Handwriting recognition
- Split-screen support on iPad
- Collaborative editing
- Password-protected note sharing
- TLS 1.3 support
SiYuan
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
DS note
No in-app purchases
SiYuan
- PRO Features$79.99
- Subscription$188.99
