AFFiNE vs AppFlowy

AFFiNE

• People who want documents and a whiteboard in the same workspace
• Users who want notes stored on their own device
• Teams looking to self-host a knowledge base

AppFlowy

• Teams that want a docs and projects workspace on their own servers
• Organizations with data residency or air-gapped requirements
• Individuals who want a free workspace that works offline

AFFiNE

• The Free cloud tier is capped at 10 GB of storage, 10 MB per file, 3 members per workspace and 3 login devices.
• AFFiNE AI is a separate add-on at $8.9 a month, billed annually, rather than part of the Pro or Team feature lists.
• The self-hosted backend uses the AFFiNE Enterprise Edition license, which allows source review only without a commercial agreement.
• The Believer Plan's lifetime license is for personal use.

AppFlowy

• The cloud Personal plan is for 1 workspace owner with 100 MB of storage, and has no guest editors, page publishing or dashboards.
• Self-hosted plans are billed annually only, and the free self-hosted tier covers 1 user seat and the web app, not the desktop or mobile apps.
• The self-hosted server is a closed-source distribution under a commercial license; AppFlowy describes the product as open core.
• Cloud Pro is charged per member in each workspace, so two Pro workspaces are billed separately.

AFFiNE

Docs, whiteboards and databases together

Block-based documents, the Edgeless whiteboard and databases live in one workspace, used for wikis, mood boards, storyboards, project tasks and mind maps.

Local-first storage

The desktop apps run documents, databases and the whiteboard locally and fully offline, with no account required. Cloud sync is optional.

Cloud collaboration

AFFiNE Cloud adds real-time co-editing of documents and whiteboards, a notification center and version history: 7 days on Free, 30 days on Pro.

AFFiNE AI

A paid add-on that drafts and rewrites text, translates, fixes grammar, finds action items and turns outlines into mind maps or presentations (beta).

Self-hosting

The full stack can run on your own servers with Docker. Self-hosting is free for up to 10 seats per workspace, and a Team license adds more.

Templates

Ready-made templates include a digital planner, storyboard, Cornell notes, one-pager, checklist and vision board.

AppFlowy

Documents and wikis

A rich-text editor with more than 40 content types for docs and team knowledge bases, with real-time co-editing and comments.

Database views

A database can be shown as a grid, kanban board, calendar, gallery, list, feed or chart, with filters and relations between databases.

Self-hosting

Deploy on your own hardware, in your own cloud or in an air-gapped environment, and manage users and instance settings from an admin panel.

AI search and writing

Answers questions from workspace content with traceable sources, drafts text and auto-fills database columns. It can run on local or self-hosted models.

AI meeting notes

Captures meetings and writes up notes inside the workspace. The cloud Personal plan gets a limited trial and Pro includes it.

Sign-on and directory support

SAML and OIDC single sign-on, SCIM, LDAP, MCP and public APIs. On self-hosted plans SCIM and LDAP start at the Team tier.

AFFiNE

• Free$0

  Listed as Local FOSS + Cloud Basic: unlimited local workspaces and editing, with 10 GB of cloud storage and up to 3 members per workspace.

• Pro$6.75

  per month, billed annually

  100 GB of cloud storage, 100 MB per file, up to 10 members per workspace and 30 days of version history.

• AFFiNE AI$8.9

  per month, billed annually

  Add-on that brings AI writing, rewriting, translation, mind maps and presentations into docs and whiteboards.

• Team$10

  per seat / month, billed annually; $12 billed monthly

  100 GB of storage plus 20 GB per seat, 500 MB per file, multiple admin roles and priority support. Also sold for self-hosted use.

• Believer Plan$499.99

  one-time purchase

  Lifetime personal use of everything in Pro, with 1 TB of cloud storage.

• EnterpriseCustom

  For 100+ seats and regulated industries: custom contract, dedicated contact, source code review and hybrid self-host and cloud options.

AppFlowy

• Personal$0

  AppFlowy Cloud for one workspace owner: 100 MB of storage, 7 MB uploads, 7 days of version history and a limited trial of AI.

• Free (self-hosted)$0

  1 user seat per instance with the web app, up to 3 guest editors, version history and page publishing.

• One (self-hosted)$6

  per month, billed annually

  1 user seat with desktop and mobile apps, local and cloud AI, vault workspaces and up to 10 guest editors.

• Team (self-hosted)$10

  per seat / month, billed annually

  Up to 1,000 seats with workspace members, SCIM, LDAP, a security audit log and priority support.

• Pro$16

  per member / month, billed annually; $20 billed monthly

  AppFlowy Cloud for teams: unlimited members, guest editors and storage, dashboards, timelines, page publishing and 90 days of version history.

• Enterprise (self-hosted)Contact us

  Unlimited seats and guest editors, plus managed deployment, whitelabeling and a support contract.

AFFiNE

• Annual discount

  Save 15% with annual billing

  The pricing page states a 15% saving on annual billing. Team is $10 per seat a month billed annually or $12 billed monthly, and the App Store lists Pro at $7.99 monthly or $81 yearly.

• Lifetime license

  Believer Plan lifetime license

  A single $499.99 payment gives lifetime personal use of AFFiNE Pro with 1 TB of cloud storage and no subscription.

AppFlowy

• Annual discount

  Save 20% on cloud Pro with yearly billing

  Pro on AppFlowy Cloud is $16 per member a month billed annually ($192 a year) or $20 billed monthly.