AFFiNE vs Notesnook
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?
Compare AFFiNE with
choose an app… Excalidraw AppFlowy Memos Mark Text Joplin Plane Cryptee Sheets SiYuan Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Focalboard Notable Docmost Super Productivity Wekan Obsidian Linkwarden BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Omnivore OpenProject Gollum Habitica Self-Hosted Zettlr Quartz VNote Wallabag MarkText Workspace Planka Self-hosted LiveSync Shiori Leantime Linkding Blinko git-bug Kanboard Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Floccus Dillinger Kaneo Buku Athens Research org-roam Taskwarrior Markor Sync Livebook QOwnNotes SilverBullet TagSpaces DokuWiki Mindforger Web CherryTree Shaarli Pinry Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next NoteDiscovery MindForger WizNote WBO BatNoter Notea AppFlowy Cloud Jotty Atomic Server Knowledge RocketNotes QuillPad Beavers Notes Outline Desktop Writing Many Notes Notabase Notesnook Sync Server mdSilo Note Mark Turtl RedNotebook Tangent Notes Drawio Desktop Server DailyTxT TeamMapper Standard Notes WiseMapping MyTetra Mindwendel LibreKB Excalidraw Whiteboard Office Digimindmap memEx QST
Compare Notesnook with
choose an app… AppFlowy Memos Mark Text Joplin SiYuan Logseq Paperless-ngx Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Focalboard Notable Docmost Obsidian BookStack Foam Docs by Suite Numerique Gollum Zettlr Quartz VNote MarkText Workspace Self-hosted LiveSync Leantime Blinko Laverna TiddlyWiki Anytype Reor nb Notes Markor Sync QOwnNotes TagSpaces Papra Mindforger Web CherryTree Archivy Flatnotes Dnote Trilium Notes Next MindForger WizNote Zim QuillPad Beavers Notes Notesnook Sync Server OutWiker Tiddloid MyTetra WikidPad
Feature AFFiNE Notesnook Category Notes & Knowledge Base Notes & Knowledge Base License MIT GPL-3.0 Language TypeScript TypeScript Setup difficulty Medium Medium Min. RAM 1,024 MB 512 MB Deployment docker docker, source GitHub stars ★ 71,312 ★ 14,380 First released 2022 2021 Replaces Notion, Miro Evernote, OneNote, Notion
Why pick each one
Choose AFFiNE if… Versatile workspace Local-first design Modern UI AFFiNE details Choose Notesnook if… Strong privacy by default Polished apps on all platforms Notesnook details
Frequently asked questions Is AFFiNE or Notesnook 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 Notesnook free and open-source? Yes. AFFiNE is licensed under MIT and Notesnook under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AFFiNE and Notesnook with Docker? AFFiNE: yes. Notesnook: yes.