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Quartz v4 vs SiYuan — PKM Migration Guide

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Quartz v4 vs SiYuan — PKM Migration Guide

A practical, honest comparison for an Obsidian user with PARA structure, Dataview, and a Mac + Android workflow. — March 2026

1. What each tool actually is

The single most important thing to understand before evaluating either option.

Quartz v4 is a static site generator that converts your Markdown folder into a beautiful website. It renders wikilinks, backlinks, a graph view, search, and full CSS theming — but it has no editor. You still write in Obsidian (or any editor). Quartz just publishes what you already have.

  • Type: Static site generator
  • Tech: Node.js / Git
  • Output: Read-only website
  • Cost: Free & open source
  • Relationship to Obsidian: Additive — keeps Obsidian

SiYuan is a full local-first PKM application — editor, database, sync, and publishing rolled into one. Block-based (think Notion/Logseq hybrid). Native apps on Mac and Android. But it stores notes in a proprietary .sy JSON format, not plain Markdown.

  • Type: Full PKM app
  • Editor: Block-based WYSIWYG
  • Mobile: Native Android
  • Format: Proprietary .sy format
  • Cost: Freemium

⚠️ These are fundamentally different categories of tool. Quartz is an add-on to Obsidian. SiYuan is a replacement for it. You’re not really choosing between two similar apps — you’re choosing between two different strategies.

2. Markdown file compatibility

YAML frontmatter

Quartz v4 ✓ Full support Reads YAML frontmatter natively. Uses it to control publish status (publish: true), titles, tags, and dates. Your existing frontmatter transfers without modification.

SiYuan ⚠️ Partial Imports frontmatter but converts notes to .sy format. Some fields survive, others are lost. Once imported, frontmatter is no longer the storage mechanism — block attributes are.

Quartz v4 ✓ Native Full Obsidian-flavour wikilink support built in. Aliases, transclusions (![[note]]), heading links ([[note#heading|heading]]) — all work. Graph view is generated from these links automatically.

SiYuan ⚠️ Basic only Recognises simple [[page name]] on import. Block anchors, heading links, and complex Obsidian reference syntax do not convert. Expect broken links on anything non-trivial.

File format after setup

Quartz v4 ✓ Pure Markdown stays pure Your .md files are never touched. Quartz reads them and generates HTML. Your vault remains fully portable.

SiYuan ✗ Converts to .sy Every imported note is converted to SiYuan’s proprietary JSON block format. You can export back to Markdown, but it’s a manual step — you’re no longer living in plain files.

🔴 Key risk with SiYuan: Your entire vault gets converted to .sy files. If SiYuan ever shuts down or you want to move again, you’re doing another migration — and it will be lossy. Quartz has zero format risk.

3. Cross-device experience

Your specific setup: Mac Mini (primary), MacBook Pro, Samsung Galaxy Fold 7.

Mac (primary)

  • Quartz: You continue using Obsidian on Mac as normal. Running npx quartz sync publishes changes. Can be scripted to run automatically on save via Shell Commands plugin.
  • SiYuan: Native macOS app. WYSIWYG block editor is genuinely polished on desktop. Full feature parity across Mac devices.

Galaxy Fold 7 (Android)

  • Quartz: Read-only web access only. You can visit your Quartz site in a browser but cannot create or edit notes on Android. For writing you’d still need Obsidian for Android.
  • SiYuan: Native Android app (Play Store & F-Droid, rated 4.7/5). However: database/table views are not yet available on Android. WebDAV auto-sync has known bugs. No Fold 7-specific optimisation reported.

Sync between devices

  • Quartz: No sync (it’s a website). You still need Obsidian Sync or equivalent. Quartz is just a read layer on top of whatever you already sync.
  • SiYuan: Official cloud sync (E2E encrypted, 8GB free), WebDAV (Nextcloud, Syncthing), or full self-hosted sync server.

📱 Fold 7 reality check: Neither tool has been specifically optimised for foldable screens. Quartz (in-browser) will reflow to whatever width is available. SiYuan’s Android app has no reported Fold optimisation. If you regularly write on the inner screen, test before committing.

4. Visual customisation & CSS control

CSS access

  • Quartz: Built on SCSS. You can override anything in custom.scss without touching source code. Full access to layout breakpoints, typography, colours, sidebar structure, graph appearance. Quartz plugins can be written in TypeScript.
  • SiYuan: Custom CSS snippets supported under the --b3- CSS variable namespace. Block-level custom attributes allow per-block styling. Less access to structural layout than Quartz, but sufficient for most customisation goals.

Themes

  • Quartz: Small ecosystem — most users build their own look. Since it compiles to static HTML, it can look like literally anything: personal blog, knowledge base, documentation site, minimal wiki.
  • SiYuan: Larger theme marketplace. Many polished dark and light themes (Asri, Dark+, etc.). Easier to get a beautiful result out-of-box without writing CSS.

Output type

  • Quartz: Public-facing website. You can share individual notes as URLs. Perfect for a digital garden you want others to visit.
  • SiYuan: Private app interface. Can publish individual pages to a SiYuan-hosted URL, but not designed as a public website.

5. Replacing Dataview / Bases functionality

Critical for movie/TV tracking, language learning vocab, and YouTube resource notes.

Native database views

  • Quartz ✗ None: Quartz has no query or database layer. Any Dataview or Bases queries in your notes render as code blocks or are ignored entirely. This is the biggest practical limitation for your use case.
  • SiYuan ✓ Built-in, mature: Native database and table views. SQL-style block queries via queryBlocks(). Sorting, filtering, grouped views — all without plugins. The best Dataview replacement of any Obsidian alternative.

Workarounds

  • Quartz: Quartz Syncer (third-party) can push rendered Dataview output as static HTML. A workaround, not a native feature. Adds complexity and another dependency.
  • SiYuan: Existing Dataview queries don’t transfer — must be rebuilt as SiYuan database views. The capability exists; it just requires manual recreation.

Your specific use cases

  • Quartz: Movie/TV tracker and vocab tables won’t work without Quartz Syncer. Not ideal for active tracking.
  • SiYuan: Well-suited, but rebuild required. Budget 2–4 hours to rebuild existing queries/tables.

⚠️ If Dataview/Bases is core to how you use your vault, Quartz alone is not a viable migration target. SiYuan is the stronger option here, at the cost of rebuilding your queries in its native format.

6. Sync options — freedom from vendor lock-in

Quartz v4SiYuan
Sync methodWhatever you already use (iCloud, Syncthing, Git)Official cloud, WebDAV, or self-hosted
Vendor dependencyNoneLow — app is open source; format dependency exists
CostFreeFree / 148 Plus (lifetime)

7. Setup complexity & ongoing maintenance

Initial setup

Quartz (Moderate — requires CLI):

  1. Install Node.js v22+ and Git
  2. Clone Quartz repo, run npm install
  3. Configure quartz.config.ts
  4. Point at your vault folder (symlink or copy)
  5. Set up GitHub Actions or Vercel deployment

Expect 2–4 hours for first setup if comfortable with terminal.

SiYuan (Easy — download and run):

  1. Download SiYuan from website or App Store
  2. Import your Obsidian vault folder
  3. Set up sync (cloud account or WebDAV)
  4. Install Android app, sign in

30–60 minutes for basic setup. No command line needed. Migration data-cleanup is the hard part, not the setup.

Ongoing maintenance

  • Quartz: Medium overhead. Publishing requires running npx quartz sync or automation. Node.js dependencies need occasional updates. Not set-and-forget.
  • SiYuan: Low overhead. App updates like any other native app. Sync happens automatically. No build pipeline to maintain.

8. Migration path from Obsidian

Effort level

  • Quartz (Low): Symlink or copy your Obsidian vault folder into Quartz’s content/ directory. Run npx quartz build. Your PARA structure, wikilinks, frontmatter — everything works immediately. Migration is a one-time technical setup, not a content migration.
  • SiYuan (Medium to high): SiYuan can import a Markdown folder, but complex wikilinks break, Dataview queries don’t transfer, some frontmatter fields need fixing. Expect a full review pass after import.

PARA structure

  • Quartz: Preserved exactly. Your folder hierarchy maps directly to URL paths (/Projects/, /Areas/, etc.).
  • SiYuan: Preserved as notebooks. Structure is maintained but paradigm is slightly different.

Reversibility

  • Quartz: 100% reversible. You never stopped using Obsidian. Remove Quartz and nothing changes.
  • SiYuan: Possible but lossy. SiYuan exports Markdown, but block attributes, database views, and native SiYuan content won’t transfer cleanly.

9. Where Claude can help in each setup

With Quartz v4

  • Write and troubleshoot quartz.config.ts configuration
  • Build custom SCSS themes from scratch
  • Write Quartz plugins (TypeScript) for custom transformations
  • Set up GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline
  • Convert Dataview queries to static Markdown tables for publishing
  • Automate the quartz sync publish workflow via shell scripts

With SiYuan

  • Write a migration script to clean up broken wikilinks post-import
  • Rebuild Dataview/Bases queries as SiYuan SQL templates
  • Write custom CSS theme snippets
  • Set up WebDAV sync with Nextcloud or Syncthing
  • Convert movie/TV tracker and German vocab tables to SiYuan database format
  • Write queryBlocks() templates for specific views
  • Help configure self-hosted sync server

10. Real-world verdict

FactorQuartz v4SiYuan
Data portability✅ Plain Markdown forever❌ Locked to .sy format
Wikilinks support✅ Full Obsidian syntax⚠️ Basic only; complex links break
Dataview / database views❌ Not supported natively✅ Built-in, mature
Mobile editing (Fold 7)❌ Read-only web only⚠️ Native app, some gaps on Android
Sync freedom✅ Use whatever you already use✅ Cloud or self-hosted WebDAV
Visual customisation✅ Deep SCSS / plugin control⚠️ Good CSS theming, less structural
Setup difficulty⚠️ Moderate (Node.js / Git required)✅ Easy install, harder migration
Migration from Obsidian✅ Near-zero effort⚠️ Imports fine, cleanup needed
Risk if you want to leave✅ Zero — still in Markdown❌ Another migration required
Active development✅ Actively maintained✅ ~25K stars, regular updates
Cost✅ Free✅ Free / $64–148 lifetime

Choose Quartz v4 if…

  • You want a beautiful digital garden / public-facing site
  • You’re comfortable with Git and terminal commands
  • Portability and plain Markdown are non-negotiable
  • You don’t need mobile editing on the Fold
  • You use Dataview lightly or not at all
  • You want to keep Obsidian (Quartz is additive, not a replacement)

Choose SiYuan if…

  • You want one app to replace Obsidian entirely
  • Dataview/Bases is central to your workflow
  • You need to actively write notes on your Fold 7
  • You want a cleaner, integrated sync solution
  • You’re willing to accept proprietary format in exchange for features
  • WYSIWYG block editing appeals to you

For your specific setup — an honest recommendation

Given your PARA vault, heavy Dataview/Bases use, German learning and media tracking tables, Galaxy Fold 7 writing habit, and desire for platform independence — neither is a clean win.

Quartz won’t replace Dataview. It’s a publishing layer, not a PKM replacement. If you primarily want to make your vault look beautiful as a website and you’re happy in Obsidian, Quartz is low-risk and genuinely excellent at what it does. But it won’t solve the Dataview gap or the Fold editing problem.

SiYuan is the more complete Obsidian alternative — it has the database views, the native Android app, and the sync story. But the .sy format trade-off is real. You’d be choosing features over portability.

💡 A pragmatic middle path: Keep Obsidian + add Quartz for publishing a subset of your vault (German notes, resource library), while waiting for Obsidian Bases to mature — it may close the gap with SiYuan’s database views natively. If Bases doesn’t deliver by end of 2026, SiYuan becomes the stronger choice for a full switch.

Generated March 2026 · Based on Quartz v4 (Node.js era) and SiYuan 3.x · Verify current pricing and feature status before deciding.

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