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Comparison · Collab

Passbolt vs SiYuan

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Passbolt and SiYuan — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Passbolt vs SiYuan: at a glance

FeaturePassboltSiYuan
SectorCollabCollab
Velocity score5.06.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themespassword-manager, access-control, sharing, session-managementlocal-first, knowledge-management, ai-agent, self-hosted
Last editorial update21d ago5h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Passbolt?

Passbolt keeps rebuilding the sharing dialog because that is where its access model leaks.

Three consecutive releases have gone into permission transparency. 5.14 introduced confirmation prompts before editing shared resources and surfaced group members in the access list; 5.14.3 corrected two behaviours it got wrong; 5.15 adds badges showing whether a permission is added, modified or deleted, and lets a deletion be rolled back before confirmation. 5.15 also moves sessions into the database with a PurgeSessions command and a healthcheck reporting the active provider, and closes three externally reported bypasses around personal-folder sharing and V5 tag promotion.

Read the full Passbolt trajectory →

What is SiYuan?

SiYuan v3.8.4 beta cycle adds agent-controlled database fields, MiniMax image gen, and skill file management

SiYuan is deep in the v3.8.4 pre-release cycle, now at beta.4, shipping a dense stream of enhancements across each daily build. The defining theme of this release cycle is agent-control expansion: the AI can now configure database fields, manage skill files, stream Markdown previews, and use custom AI provider headers — moving SiYuan from a tool where AI assists with writing to one where AI can reshape the workspace structure itself. Mobile UX and PDF annotation improvements are running in parallel.

Read the full SiYuan trajectory →

Passbolt vs SiYuan: editorial side-by-side

P
Passbolt
COLLAB
5.0

Passbolt keeps rebuilding the sharing dialog because that is where its access model leaks.

◆ Current state

Three consecutive releases have gone into permission transparency. 5.14 introduced confirmation prompts before editing shared resources and surfaced group members in the access list; 5.14.3 corrected two behaviours it got wrong; 5.15 adds badges showing whether a permission is added, modified or deleted, and lets a deletion be rolled back before confirmation. 5.15 also moves sessions into the database with a PurgeSessions command and a healthcheck reporting the active provider, and closes three externally reported bypasses around personal-folder sharing and V5 tag promotion.

◆ Where it's heading

The product is treating accidental over-sharing as its primary risk, and the fix is repeated iteration on the moment of change rather than a new permission model. The company has said this is staged work — folder moves and richer preview dialogs are named as future extensions. In parallel the platform side is maturing for larger installs: database-backed sessions, edition switching in-app since 5.13, healthcheck coverage, SCIM administrator-deletion guards. Autofill has just started its own multi-release arc, with 5.15 explicitly the first step.

◆ Prediction

The next release should extend confirmation prompts to folder move operations, and the notes flag that the SSO egress guard will default to on. Autofill form classification is the other named thread, with a technical write-up promised after the following release.

S
SiYuan
COLLAB
6.3

SiYuan v3.8.4 beta cycle adds agent-controlled database fields, MiniMax image gen, and skill file management

◆ Current state

SiYuan is deep in the v3.8.4 pre-release cycle, now at beta.4, shipping a dense stream of enhancements across each daily build. The defining theme of this release cycle is agent-control expansion: the AI can now configure database fields, manage skill files, stream Markdown previews, and use custom AI provider headers — moving SiYuan from a tool where AI assists with writing to one where AI can reshape the workspace structure itself. Mobile UX and PDF annotation improvements are running in parallel.

◆ Where it's heading

SiYuan is building toward an agent-orchestrated personal knowledge base, where the AI layer can modify not just content but the organizational schema. The skill file management system suggests an emerging plugin-like architecture for agent behaviors. As multimodal generation (MiniMax image support) gets wired in, SiYuan's trajectory is toward a locally-run AI workspace that rivals cloud-based tools without the data-residency trade-off.

◆ Prediction

v3.8.4 stable will ship soon given the move to beta.4. The agentic features (database field configuration, skill management) will attract integrations from local-first AI workflow builders. Expect MiniMax and other provider integrations to expand in the next cycle.

Alternatives to Passbolt and SiYuan

Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Passbolt or SiYuan.

See all Passbolt alternatives → · See all SiYuan alternatives →

Recent activity from Passbolt and SiYuan

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 8h agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.4-beta.4: agent workspace control and MiniMax image generation
  2. 1d agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.4-beta.3: streaming agent preview and MCP SQL fix
  3. 1d agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.4-beta.2: Docker fonts, custom block search
  4. 2d agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.4-beta.1: pinnable documents, rich text tables, remote GUI
  5. 2d agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.4-alpha.9: Serbian language, fullscreen agent dock
  6. 3d agoSiYuanSiYuan v3.8.4-alpha.8: document pinning, sync improvements
  7. 26d agoPassbolt5.15 adds database sessions and closes shared-tag permission bypasses
  8. 1mo agoPassbolt5.14.3 limits the permission dialog to actual secret changes
  9. 1mo agoPassbolt5.14 adds confirmation prompts before shared-resource edits
  10. 3mo agoPassbolt5.13 adds in-app switching between Community and Pro
  11. 4mo agoPassbolt5.12 makes the Safari extension generally available

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Passbolt and SiYuan?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. SiYuan is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Passbolt better than SiYuan?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. SiYuan is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Passbolt?

Top Passbolt alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Passbolt alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/passbolt for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to SiYuan?

Top SiYuan alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SiYuan alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/siyuan for the full list with editorial commentary on each.