AppFlowy is the open-source answer to Notion: a workspace where documents, databases, boards and calendars live together, with the option to host the data yourself instead of renting storage from a vendor.
With roughly 77,000 stars on GitHub and an AGPL licence, it is one of the more credible self-hostable options in this category, and it keeps local-first behaviour — your workspace works offline and syncs when it can.
Official image from the https://appflowy.io website. (https://appflowy.com/_next/static/media/og-image.838814e7.png)
What it covers
- Documents with blocks, embeds and collaboration
- Databases with multiple views, including grid and board
- Kanban and calendar views for planning work
- Self-hosting or cloud, plus desktop and mobile clients
What to know before you switch
Notion’s advantage is its ecosystem: integrations, templates and community-built setups. AppFlowy is narrower there, and the desktop-first development means mobile is a step behind. If your workflow depends on a dozen third-party integrations, check whether AppFlowy supports the ones you actually need.
Who it fits
Teams that need to keep notes and project data on their own infrastructure, small companies avoiding per-seat subscriptions, and anyone leaving Notion over data-ownership concerns.