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Unbiased Comparison

AFFiNE vs filebrowser

Is it time to switch? We break down the differences so you can stop bleeding money.

Our Verdict

Choose AFFiNE.

If you want to own your data, save money, and avoid vendor lock-in, AFFiNE is more popular among developers.

What Actually Matters

No fluff โ€” just the differences that affect your decision

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Openness

Both open source, different licenses: AFFiNE uses Other, filebrowser uses Apache-2.0. Check the fine print if you're building commercial.

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Self-Hosting

Both can run on your own metal with Docker. Full data ownership, no cloud dependency. We have deploy guides for each.

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CommunityAFFiNE wins

AFFiNE dominates with 73.5k GitHub stars vs 35.9k. Bigger community = more plugins, more answers on Stack Overflow, faster bug fixes.

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Tech Stack

AFFiNE is built in TypeScript, filebrowser in Go. Matters if you want to contribute, extend, or debug internals.

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Bottom Line

Try both โ€” most offer free tiers. The right pick depends on your stack size, team, and tolerance for DevOps.

AFFiNE logo
Open Source๐Ÿณ Self-Hostable

AFFiNE

Productivity

There can be more than Notion and Miro. AFFiNE(pronounced [ษ™โ€˜fain]) is a next-gen knowledge base that brings planning, sorting and creating all together. Privacy first, open-source, customizable and ready to use.

Why Choose AFFiNE

  • โœ“Modern block editor with Notion-like feel
  • โœ“Spatial canvas for whiteboarding and visual thinking
  • โœ“Hybrid local-first and cloud sync architecture

Drawbacks

  • ร—Still in beta
filebrowser logo
Open Source๐Ÿณ Self-Hostable

filebrowser

Productivity

Single-binary web file manager for uploading, deleting, previewing, and editing files within a specified directory. Built with Go.

Why Choose filebrowser

  • โœ“Single binary โ€” easy to deploy and manage
  • โœ“Built with Go โ€” fast and lightweight architecture
  • โœ“Create-your-own-cloud โ€” flexible and customizable

Drawbacks

  • ร—Self-hosting can be complex
  • ร—Limited scalability for very large file sets
Feature
AFFiNE
filebrowser
Pricing Model
Unknown
Unknown
Est. Monthly Cost
Unknown
Free
Open Source
Yes
Yes
Self-Hostable
Yes
Yes
Hosting Difficulty
One-Click Deploy
One-Click Deploy
GitHub Stars
73,488
35,900
License
Other
Apache-2.0
Language
TypeScript
Go