Notion vs AppFlowy

Notion is a paid workspace with a free plan [S1]. AppFlowy's app repo, AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy, is on GitHub under the GNU Affero General Public License Version 3 [S2]. AppFlowy's official self-hosted server comes from a separate repo under the AppFlowy Self-Hosted Commercial License [S5]. We checked every figure on this page against the vendors' own pages on 16 and 17 Oct 2026. Prices on this page are list prices as of 16 Oct 2026.

Notion vs AppFlowy at a glance

Notion and AppFlowy compared, from the vendors' own pages and the GitHub API
	Notion	AppFlowy
License	Not documented on the pages we read	App repo: "GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3", SPDX AGPL-3.0 [S2]. Self-hosted server: AppFlowy Self-Hosted Commercial License [S5]
Free option	Free, US$0 per member a month, for personal projects [S1]	App code under AGPL-3.0 [S2]. Self-hosted server Free Tier: "One User Seat (per instance)" [S5]
Paid plans	Plus US$10, Business US$20, per member a month [S1]	Paid self-hosted plans; prices not shown here [S5]
GitHub stars	Not applicable in our reading	78,410 on 8 Nov 2026 [S3]
Last code push	Not applicable in our reading	3 Nov 2026 [S3]

What is AppFlowy?

AppFlowy's app code is on GitHub at AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy. Its LICENSE file is the "GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 19 November 2007" [S2]. The repo had 78,410 stars on 8 Nov 2026 [S3]. It is not archived, and the last push was on 3 Nov 2026 [S3].

Notion vs AppFlowy pricing

Notion's Free plan costs US$0 per member a month and is "For individuals to organize personal projects" [S1]. Plus costs US$10 per member a month [S1]. Business costs US$20 per member a month [S1].

AppFlowy's app code is free to download under AGPL-3.0 [S2]. For the self-hosted server, AppFlowy's README documents a Free Tier of "One User Seat (per instance)" and paid self-hosted plans [S5].

Notion is the better fit when

You want a free plan for personal projects [S1].
You want per-member pricing on a hosted plan [S1].

AppFlowy is the better fit when

You want the app code under the GNU AGPL Version 3 [S2].
You want to read or change the app source yourself [S2].

Self-hosting the AppFlowy server

AppFlowy's server repo, AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy-Cloud, is archived [S4]. Its README says the official Docker images "are built from AppFlowy's actively maintained commercial server codebase", which it calls "a closed-source fork of this open-source core combined with proprietary features" [S4]. The current self-host repo "is distributed under the AppFlowy Self-Hosted Commercial License" [S5]. In our reading, the supported way to self-host the AppFlowy server is not open source.

The self-hosted Free Tier gives "One User Seat (per instance)" and "Up to 3 Guest Editors who can be added to selected pages" [S5]. The README says you can "upgrade the same deployment to a paid self-hosted plan as your requirements grow" [S5]. We could not read AppFlowy's self-hosted price list, so this page gives no AppFlowy prices.

The archived server code is still public under its original license. AppFlowy no longer maintains that repo, and it advises: "Do not build the server from this archived appflowy-cloud repository." [S4]

Other Notion alternatives

Forkshelf lists 45 tools with open-source alternatives. See the Notion alternatives page for the open-source options we list for Notion.

FAQ

Is AppFlowy free?
The app code in AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy is under AGPL-3.0 [S2]. The official self-hosted server has a Free Tier of "One User Seat (per instance)", and AppFlowy sells paid self-hosted plans [S5].

Is Notion free?
The Free plan costs US$0 per member a month, for personal projects [S1].

How much does Notion cost?
Plus is US$10 and Business is US$20 per member a month, as of 16 Oct 2026 [S1].