AFFiNE vs Notion
Is it time to switch? We break down the differences so you can stop bleeding money.
Choose AFFiNE.
If you want to own your data, save money, and avoid vendor lock-in, AFFiNE is open source and community-driven.
What Actually Matters
No fluff — just the differences that affect your decision
AFFiNE is open source (Other). Notion isn't. You can fork it, audit it, host it yourself — no permission needed. That matters.
AFFiNE lets you self-host with Docker — your data, your rules. Notion? Cloud only. If privacy matters, that's a dealbreaker.
AFFiNE dominates with 73.5k GitHub stars vs 0. Bigger community = more plugins, more answers on Stack Overflow, faster bug fixes.
AFFiNE is built in TypeScript — you can read the source, contribute, or fork it. Notion is closed-source, so you're trusting their engineering.
Try both — most offer free tiers. The right pick depends on your stack size, team, and tolerance for DevOps.
AFFiNE
There can be more than Notion and Miro. AFFiNE(pronounced [ə‘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
- ✓Modern block editor with Notion-like feel
- ✓Spatial canvas for whiteboarding and visual thinking
- ✓Hybrid local-first and cloud sync architecture
Drawbacks
- ×Still in beta
Notion
All-in-one workspace.
Why Choose Notion
- ✓All-in-one workspace (docs, wikis, databases)
- ✓Beautiful and intuitive interface
- ✓Powerful database views and relations
Drawbacks
- ×Can be slow with large workspaces
- ×Offline mode is unreliable
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