AFFiNE vs Turtl
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?
AFFiNE
Workspace for docs, whiteboards and databases
VS
Turtl
Encrypted note-taking and bookmarking for privacy
| Feature | AFFiNE | Turtl |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 71,312 | ★ 632 |
| First released | 2022 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Notion, Miro | Evernote, Google Keep |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is AFFiNE or Turtl 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 Turtl free and open-source?
Yes. AFFiNE is licensed under MIT and Turtl under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AFFiNE and Turtl with Docker?
AFFiNE: yes. Turtl: check the project docs for container support.