AFFiNE

What is AFFiNE?

AFFiNE is an open source, all-in-one workspace that merges document editing, an infinite whiteboard, and databases onto a single canvas. It’s local-first — your data lives on your own device by default and syncs across web, desktop, and mobile clients — and it can be self-hosted, so a whole team’s knowledge never has to sit in someone else’s cloud.

What is AFFiNE best for?

AFFiNE fits people who bounce between a doc tool and a whiteboard and want both in one place: writing notes and wikis, then dropping the same content onto an edgeless canvas to map ideas visually. It suits privacy-conscious individuals and small teams who like Notion’s block model but want local-first storage and the option to self-host.

What can AFFiNE do?

• Write block-based docs and wikis with linked pages, backlinks, and slash commands
• Switch any page to an edgeless canvas with sticky notes, shapes, connectors, and embedded content
• Build multi-view databases — tables, kanban boards, and lists — inside your workspace
• Turn a canvas into presentation slides without exporting to another tool
• Keep working offline: local-first storage with real-time sync across web, desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux), iOS, and Android
• Use AFFiNE AI (paid add-on) to draft, summarize, and generate mind maps or slides
• Self-host the full stack with Docker for full data ownership

Where does AFFiNE fall short?

• The backend isn’t fully open source. The editor and most of the code are MIT-licensed, but packages/backend is source-available under AFFiNE’s Enterprise Edition license. You can self-host free for personal or development use, but running production with paid team seats needs the Self-Hosted Team tier ($10/seat/month, 10+ seats) — so “free self-host” really means individual and small-scale use.
• AI costs extra. AFFiNE AI is billed separately (around $8.90/month), not bundled into the free or Pro plans, so the AI features aren’t part of the free package.
• Smaller ecosystem than Notion. It has far fewer third-party integrations, templates, and community resources, and no mature public API for automation — so wiring AFFiNE into the rest of your stack is more limited than with an established tool.

Is AFFiNE free?

Partly. The core app is free and open source under MIT, and you can self-host it at no license cost for personal or development use — you only pay for your own server. AFFiNE Cloud has a free forever tier (10 GB storage, up to 3 members per workspace, 7-day version history), with Pro at $6.75/month (100 GB, 30-day history) and Team at $10/seat/month. AFFiNE AI is a separate paid add-on, and self-hosting a team in production also falls under the paid Self-Hosted Team tier.

What does AFFiNE replace?

AFFiNE is built to be both a Notion alternative and a Miro alternative in one app: it covers Notion’s docs, wikis, and databases while adding the infinite whiteboard you’d otherwise reach for Miro to get. If you only need the docs-and-wiki half, lighter self-hosted knowledge base tools like Outline or Docmost may be a simpler fit.

FAQ

Is AFFiNE open source? Mostly. The editor and the bulk of the codebase are MIT-licensed, but the backend server is source-available under AFFiNE’s Enterprise Edition license rather than a standard open source license.

Can I self-host AFFiNE for free? Yes, for personal or development use — the full stack runs with Docker and there’s no license fee. Running it in production with paid team seats requires the Self-Hosted Team tier.

Is AFFiNE a good Notion and Miro alternative? For people who want docs and a whiteboard together with local-first storage, yes. Notion still has a larger integration and template ecosystem, and Miro offers deeper facilitation features for large workshops.

What do I need to run AFFiNE? A server with Docker; a standard self-hosted deployment uses PostgreSQL and Redis. For everyday use you can also just install the desktop or mobile app and skip hosting entirely.