AppFlowy: Self-Hosted AI Workspace for Teams

AppFlowy is an open-source workspace that combines documents, wikis, and project management in a single platform. With over 68,000 GitHub stars, it has emerged as the leading self-hosted alternative to Notion. Built with Flutter and Rust, AppFlowy offers a native desktop experience with AI-powered writing assistance, Kanban boards, calendar views, and rich document editing — all while keeping your data under your control.

Self-hosting AppFlowy gives your team a private, feature-rich workspace without sending your documents and knowledge base to a third-party cloud.

Key Features

• Rich document editor with slash commands, markdown support, and nested pages
• AI-powered writing assistant for generating, summarizing, and translating content
• Multiple database views — grid, Kanban board, calendar, and gallery
• Collaborative editing with real-time sync across devices
• Built with Rust backend for performance and reliability
• Offline-first architecture — work without internet, sync when connected
• Customizable templates for project wikis, meeting notes, and task tracking
• Open plugin system for extending functionality

Why Self-Host AppFlowy?

Own your knowledge base. Your team's wikis, project docs, and meeting notes contain proprietary information. Self-hosting AppFlowy keeps all this data on your infrastructure, not on Notion's servers. Full data ownership with no vendor lock-in.

AI features without data leakage. AppFlowy's AI features can be configured to use your own AI models or API keys. Self-hosting ensures that when AI processes your documents, the data stays within your control rather than training someone else's model.

No subscription per user. Notion charges per team member, which scales linearly with your organization. Self-hosted AppFlowy serves your entire team from a single server with no per-seat fees.

Customizable to your workflow. Self-hosting lets you customize AppFlowy's appearance, integrate it with internal tools, and extend it through the plugin system to match exactly how your team works.

System Requirements

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	2 vCPUs	4 vCPUs
RAM	2 GB	4 GB
Storage	10 GB SSD	30 GB SSD
OS	Ubuntu 22.04+	Ubuntu 24.04

AppFlowy Cloud runs a Rust-based backend with PostgreSQL for data storage and Redis for real-time collaboration. Storage needs grow with the volume of documents, attachments, and media your team uploads.

Getting Started

Deploy AppFlowy on your VPS using Docker Compose through Dokploy. Our deployment guide covers the full backend setup including PostgreSQL, Redis, AI integration, and SSL configuration.

Deploy AppFlowy with Dokploy →

Alternatives

• Outline — Clean, structured team wiki with Slack integration and markdown editing
• AFFiNE — Open-source workspace combining docs, whiteboards, and databases
• Trilium Notes — Hierarchical note-taking app for personal knowledge management
• BookStack — Self-hosted wiki with a book-like organizational structure

FAQ

How does AppFlowy compare to Notion? AppFlowy aims to provide the same document-centric workspace experience as Notion — rich pages, databases, Kanban boards, and team wikis. The key difference is that AppFlowy is open source and can be self-hosted, giving you complete data ownership. Notion is more mature in integrations and templates, while AppFlowy is catching up rapidly.

Does AppFlowy work offline? Yes. AppFlowy uses an offline-first architecture. You can create and edit documents without internet access. Changes sync automatically when connectivity is restored.

Can I migrate from Notion to AppFlowy? AppFlowy supports importing from Notion. You can export your Notion workspace and import the content into AppFlowy, though some formatting and linked database features may need manual adjustment.

Is AppFlowy suitable for large teams? Yes. The self-hosted AppFlowy Cloud backend supports collaborative editing, user management, and workspace organization for teams. Performance depends on your server resources and the number of concurrent editors.

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App data sourced from selfh.st open-source directory.