AppFlowy 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.
AppFlowy
Open-source workspace and Notion alternative
VS
Notea
Archived
Self-hosted note-taking app stored on S3
| Feature | AppFlowy | Notea |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Dart | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 76,904 | ★ 2,147 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Notion, Evernote | Notion, Evernote |
What are AppFlowy and Notea?
AppFlowy
AppFlowy is an open-source workspace for notes, wikis, and project management designed as a privacy-first alternative to Notion. It can run locally and supports a self-hosted sync backend.
- Notion-like blocks and databases
- Local-first data
- Self-hostable cloud backend
- Cross-platform apps
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 vs Notea: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Notea's repository is archived and no longer developed, while AppFlowy is actively maintained. AppFlowy is written in Dart, while Notea is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for AppFlowy versus MIT for Notea. Notea is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for AppFlowy. AppFlowy has the considerably larger community, at 76,904 GitHub stars versus 2,147.
Why pick each one
Choose AppFlowy if…
- Strong Notion alternative
- Active development
Watch out for
- Self-hosted backend is newer
- Still maturing
Choose Notea if…
- Simple storage model
- Clean editing experience
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Single-user focused
Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or Notea better?
Neither is universally better. AppFlowy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are AppFlowy and Notea free and open-source?
Yes. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Notea under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AppFlowy and Notea with Docker?
AppFlowy: yes. Notea: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, AppFlowy or Notea?
Notea has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for AppFlowy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.