AFFiNE vs Scrintal

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

Scrintal

• Students and researchers mapping reading notes visually
• Writers who lay out a thesis or article on a canvas before drafting
• Small groups brainstorming on shared boards

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.

Scrintal

• There is no free plan and no direct trial; a 14-day trial is available only through an existing user's invite link.
• The single plan is billed annually at $108; the pricing data lists no monthly option.
• Refunds are limited to the first 7 days of a new subscription, once per user, and are not given after a trial.
• Desktop apps are offered for macOS and Windows; the site lists no mobile app.

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.

Scrintal

Infinite canvas boards

Boards hold notes, PDFs, videos and images side by side, so reading, watching and note-taking happen on one surface. Templates cover study and research.

Blocks that become docs

A note starts as a block on the canvas and can be turned into a full rich-text document with a click. Docs live in one library and are reused across boards.

Arrows and bi-directional links

Ideas are connected visually with arrows on a board, or through bi-directional links between docs.

AI Assistant

The site lists a built-in AI Assistant for repetitive, time-consuming work. Gobu, a separate product from the same company, is an AI research assistant.

Real-time collaboration

Subscribers share docs and boards with other Scrintal users by email address and work on them together in real time.

Markdown and PDF import and export

Existing Markdown files can be imported, and the whole archive can be downloaded as Markdown files.

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.

Scrintal

• Scrintal Pro$9

  per month, billed annually ($108 per year)

  Unlimited docs and boards, unlimited file uploads, real-time collaboration, priority support and community calls with the team.

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.

Scrintal

• Education

  30% student discount

  Scrintal's support docs offer students 30% off, applied automatically at checkout when subscribing with a university email address.