SHSelfHostIndex

AFFiNE vs AppFlowy Cloud

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
AF AFFiNE Workspace for docs, whiteboards and databases VS AP AppFlowy Cloud Self-hosted backend for the AppFlowy workspace app
FeatureAFFiNEAppFlowy Cloud
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptRust
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker
GitHub stars★ 71,312★ 1,976
First released20222023
ReplacesNotion, MiroNotion

Why pick each one

Choose AFFiNE if…

  • Versatile workspace
  • Local-first design
  • Modern UI
AFFiNE details

Choose AppFlowy Cloud if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Rust
AppFlowy Cloud details

Frequently asked questions

Is AFFiNE or AppFlowy Cloud better?

Neither is universally better. AFFiNE has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are AFFiNE and AppFlowy Cloud free and open-source?

Yes. AFFiNE is licensed under MIT and AppFlowy Cloud under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run AFFiNE and AppFlowy Cloud with Docker?

AFFiNE: yes. AppFlowy Cloud: yes.

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