AppFlowy vs Foam
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?
AppFlowy
Open-source workspace and Notion alternative
VS
Foam
Personal knowledge management on top of VS Code
| Feature | AppFlowy | Foam |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Dart | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 75,074 | ★ 17,328 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Notion, Evernote | Roam Research, Obsidian |
Why pick each one
Choose Foam if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 17.3k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or Foam better?
Neither is universally better. AppFlowy has the larger community, while Foam is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are AppFlowy and Foam free and open-source?
Yes. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Foam under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AppFlowy and Foam with Docker?
AppFlowy: yes. Foam: check the project docs for container support.