SHSelfHostIndex

AFFiNE vs Foam

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 FO Foam Personal knowledge management on top of VS Code
FeatureAFFiNEFoam
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM1,024 MB256 MB
Deploymentdockersource
GitHub stars★ 71,312★ 17,328
First released20222020
ReplacesNotion, MiroRoam Research, Obsidian

Why pick each one

Choose AFFiNE if…

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

Choose Foam if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 17.3k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Foam details

Frequently asked questions

Is AFFiNE or Foam better?

Neither is universally better. AFFiNE has the larger community, while Foam is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are AFFiNE and Foam free and open-source?

Yes. AFFiNE is licensed under MIT and Foam under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run AFFiNE and Foam with Docker?

AFFiNE: yes. Foam: check the project docs for container support.

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