AppFlowy Cloud vs Notea
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted notes & knowledge base options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | AppFlowy Cloud | Notea |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Archived | Archived |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Rust | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,004 | ★ 2,147 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Notion | Notion, Evernote |
What are AppFlowy Cloud and Notea?
AppFlowy Cloud
AppFlowy Cloud is the self-hostable backend service that powers collaboration and sync for the AppFlowy open-source workspace and note-taking application. It lets teams keep documents and data on their own servers.
- Self-hosted sync backend
- Real-time collaboration
- Document storage
- Open-source server
Notea
Notea is an open-source, self-hosted note-taking application with a Notion-like editor that stores all data on S3-compatible object storage. It runs serverlessly and requires no traditional database.
- Notion-like editor
- Stores data on S3
- No database required
- Markdown support
AppFlowy Cloud vs Notea: key differences
Note that both projects' repositories are archived — neither is actively developed. AppFlowy Cloud is written in Rust, while Notea is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for AppFlowy Cloud versus MIT for Notea. Notea is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for AppFlowy Cloud. Notea is the more established project (first released 2021), while AppFlowy Cloud arrived in 2023.
Why pick each one
Choose AppFlowy Cloud if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Choose Notea if…
- Simple storage model
- Clean editing experience
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Single-user focused
Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy Cloud or Notea better?
Neither is universally better. Notea has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are AppFlowy Cloud and Notea free and open-source?
Yes. AppFlowy Cloud is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Notea under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AppFlowy Cloud and Notea with Docker?
AppFlowy Cloud: yes. Notea: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, AppFlowy Cloud or Notea?
Notea has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for AppFlowy Cloud. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.