AFFiNE vs Shaarli
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories
— 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 Notesnook 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 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 Shaarli with
choose an app… AppFlowy Memos Mark Text Joplin SiYuan RSSHub Logseq Outline Trilium Notes TriliumNext Notes Khoj Wiki.js Karakeep ArchiveBox Linkwarden Omnivore FreshRSS Wallabag Shiori Linkding Fluent Reader Miniflux RSS-Bridge Winds Floccus NewsBlur Buku TagSpaces Stringer yarr Newsboat Feedbin CommaFeed Pinry Speedtest Tracker Dashboard Archivy LittleLink Grimoire Promnesia Read-later nono Reminiscence Pinkary Self-Hosted Readeck Espial Bookmark dashboard nono Benotes Zimit Servas Firefox Account Server omnom GoSuki NeonLink EpubPress
Feature AFFiNE Shaarli Category Notes & Knowledge Base Bookmarks & Read-It-Later License MIT GPL-3.0 Language TypeScript PHP Setup difficulty Medium Easy Min. RAM 1,024 MB 128 MB Deployment docker docker, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 71,312 ★ 3,888 First released 2022 2013 Replaces Notion, Miro Pocket, Delicious
Why pick each one
Choose AFFiNE if… Versatile workspace Local-first design Modern UI AFFiNE details Choose Shaarli if… Extremely lightweight Easy to back up Can be public or private Shaarli details
Frequently asked questions Is AFFiNE or Shaarli better? Neither is universally better. AFFiNE has the larger community, while Shaarli is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are AFFiNE and Shaarli free and open-source? Yes. AFFiNE is licensed under MIT and Shaarli under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AFFiNE and Shaarli with Docker? AFFiNE: yes. Shaarli: yes.