SHSelfHostIndex

AFFiNE vs RocketNotes

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 RO RocketNotes Web-based Markdown note-taking app with AI assistance
FeatureAFFiNERocketNotes
CategoryNotes & Knowledge BaseNotes & Knowledge Base
LicenseMITApache-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB256 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, source
GitHub stars★ 71,312★ 1,437
First released20222023
ReplacesNotion, MiroNotion, Evernote

Why pick each one

Choose AFFiNE if…

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

Choose RocketNotes if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
  • Written in TypeScript
RocketNotes details

Frequently asked questions

Is AFFiNE or RocketNotes 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 RocketNotes free and open-source?

Yes. AFFiNE is licensed under MIT and RocketNotes under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run AFFiNE and RocketNotes with Docker?

AFFiNE: yes. RocketNotes: yes.

Related comparisons