AppFlowy — The Open-Source Notion Alternative You Control

Introduction

AppFlowy is the most popular open-source Notion clone. Built with Flutter (desktop + mobile) and a Rust core, it covers the Notion feature surface: rich docs, databases with multiple views (grid, board, calendar, gallery), templates, and an AppFlowy AI layer. The data lives locally by default; AppFlowy Cloud (self-hosted) adds sync across devices.

With over 70,000 GitHub stars, AppFlowy is the go-to choice for teams that want Notion-style productivity without Notion's pricing, vendor lock-in, or cloud-only data storage. It runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and in the browser.

What AppFlowy Does

AppFlowy gives you documents, databases (tables with typed columns), and views (grid, kanban board, calendar, gallery). Blocks are draggable, linkable, and embeddable the same way Notion blocks are. The Rust core manages data in SQLite + a CRDT layer for collaboration; the Flutter UI renders the same widgets across platforms.

Architecture Overview

[AppFlowy UI (Flutter)]
  desktop / mobile / web
      |
[Rust Core (appflowy_flutter + client-api)]
  document blocks, database views,
  CRDT (y-doc-compatible) for sync
      |
Local-first storage
  SQLite + custom snapshot format
      |
[AppFlowy Cloud (optional, self-hosted)]
  auth, sync, file storage,
  PostgreSQL + Redis + S3 (or MinIO)
      |
[AppFlowy AI (optional)]
  OpenAI / Anthropic / Ollama

Self-Hosting & Configuration

# deploy.env (excerpt)
APPFLOWY_BASE_URL=http://your-server
APPFLOWY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:password@postgres:5432/postgres
APPFLOWY_REDIS_URI=redis://redis:6379
APPFLOWY_S3_USE_MINIO=true
APPFLOWY_MAILER_SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
GOTRUE_SITE_URL=appflowy-flutter://
GOTRUE_MAILER_AUTOCONFIRM=false
APPFLOWY_AI_OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxx

# Desktop client configuration: point at self-hosted
# Settings -> Cloud settings -> Self-hosted -> Base URL: http://your-server:8000
# Sign in with the email you registered on the server

Key Features

• Docs + Databases — Notion-style block editor with typed database views
• Local-first — your data on your disk, sync is optional
• Self-hostable — AppFlowy Cloud Docker stack for teams
• Cross-platform — macOS/Windows/Linux desktop + iOS/Android + web
• AppFlowy AI — write, summarize, translate with OpenAI/Claude/Ollama
• Templates marketplace — hundreds of community templates
• Row-level real-time sync — CRDT-based collaboration on shared docs
• Custom themes — light/dark + community color schemes

Comparison with Similar Tools

FAQ

Q: AppFlowy vs Notion? A: Feature parity is 70–80% and growing. Notion wins on polish, integrations, and template library; AppFlowy wins on openness, data sovereignty, and price. For teams that need SOC2 / self-hosting, AppFlowy is often the only choice.

Q: Can I migrate from Notion? A: Yes — import Markdown or use the Notion importer (beta). For large Notion workspaces, expect manual cleanup of nested database properties.

Q: Is self-hosting hard? A: Medium — requires Docker Compose, Postgres, Redis, MinIO (or S3). The AppFlowy Cloud repo has a ready stack; a 2GB VPS handles small teams comfortably.

Q: Does AppFlowy support Notion-style API? A: AppFlowy Cloud exposes REST + WebSocket APIs for integrations. A Notion-compatible API layer is on the roadmap but not yet GA.

Sources

• GitHub: https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy
• Cloud: https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy-Cloud
• Website: https://appflowy.com
• License: AGPL-3.0