Dart in this catalogue means Flutter, and Flutter means the part you hold in your hand. The big names here (LocalSend at about 94,000 stars, AppFlowy at about 77,000, Ente Photos at about 29,000) are cross-platform apps whose Dart code runs on phones and desktops. Where there is a server to self-host, it is often a separate project in a different language. Judge this bucket by its clients, which are excellent, and check each app's server story separately.

What Dart means for the person running it

For you as an operator, Dart mostly does not reach the server. Flutter compiles one codebase to Android, iOS, desktop and web, which is why so many self-hosted projects use it for their apps: a small team gets every platform at once. The catalogue lists most entries as binary installs, which here means app stores, F-Droid or downloaded desktop builds rather than a service you run.

Patching is approachable. Dart reads like Java or TypeScript, the Flutter tooling is a single SDK download, and a local build of a client app is an afternoon of setup rather than a week. Memory estimates in this bucket (64 to 256 MB for most clients) describe the device.

Which Dart apps involve a server you host?

Only a few of them, and the server is rarely written in Dart. These five are the entries where your side of the setup is more than an app install.

App	Your side	Difficulty (directory)	RAM estimate
LocalSend	Nothing: device to device	Easy	128 MB
AppFlowy	Optional sync backend	Medium	1,024 MB
Ente Photos	Encrypted photo server	Hard	1,024 MB
KitchenOwl	Grocery and recipe server	Easy	256 MB
Cashew Self-Host	Budget sync server	Easy	256 MB

LocalSend is the most-starred app in the whole bucket and has no server at all. It sends files between devices on the same network over an encrypted local API, with no internet and no central service. That is exactly why it is popular, and why it belongs on every device in the house.

AppFlowy is a Notion alternative that works locally out of the box, with a self-hostable sync backend that the catalogue describes as newer and still maturing. The directory estimates 1 GB of RAM for it. Ente Photos is the hard one: end-to-end encrypted photo backup with polished Flutter apps, but the directory rates the server Hard, and that server is written in Go rather than Dart. If you want self-hosted photos with less setup, the Ente vs Immich comparison is the decision to make.

KitchenOwl is the friendliest full stack here: shared grocery lists and recipes with real-time sync, Docker install, Easy rating, 256 MB estimate. Cashew Self-Host is a small SQLite-backed sync server for a budgeting client.

The Flutter clients for servers you already run

The rest of the bucket is front ends. Finamp is a Jellyfin music player with offline downloads, Fladder (first released 2024) is a cross-platform Jellyfin client, and FluffyChat is a lightweight, cheerful Matrix client with a 64 MB estimate. Syphon and Commet are smaller Matrix clients; Vikunja Frontend Mobile pairs with a Vikunja task server.

What I'd do

Install LocalSend everywhere today; it costs nothing to run. If you use Jellyfin, add Finamp for music. Self-host KitchenOwl if the household shares a shopping list. Treat Ente and AppFlowy's backend as deliberate projects with a gigabyte of RAM set aside, not quick wins.