SHSelfHostIndex

AFFiNE vs NoteDiscovery

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 NO NoteDiscovery Self-hosted Markdown knowledge base with graph view
FeatureAFFiNENoteDiscovery
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITMIT
LanguageTypeScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB256 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, source
GitHub stars★ 71,312★ 2,735
First released20222024
ReplacesNotion, MiroObsidian, Notion

Why pick each one

Choose AFFiNE if…

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

Choose NoteDiscovery if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
  • Written in JavaScript
NoteDiscovery details

Frequently asked questions

Is AFFiNE or NoteDiscovery 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 NoteDiscovery free and open-source?

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

Can I run AFFiNE and NoteDiscovery with Docker?

AFFiNE: yes. NoteDiscovery: yes.

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