AppFlowy vs Docmost: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Notion. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| AppFlowy | Docmost | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | ~59k | ~14k |
| Tech stack | Rust, Flutter, PostgreSQL | NestJS, React, PostgreSQL |
| Replaces | Notion | Confluence, Notion |
AppFlowy has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
AppFlowy
Notes and database workspace, the open source alternative to Notion.
Pros
- Noticeably better performance with large documents
- No artificial limits on blocks or members
- Self-hostable with full control of your data
Things to consider
- Plugin ecosystem still smaller than Notion's
- AGPL-3.0: a strong copyleft license, with source-sharing obligations for covered modified versions and certain network use, under its terms
Docmost
Modern collaborative wiki, an open source alternative to Confluence.
Pros
- Very fast-growing community and feature set
Things to consider
- Still a young project compared to Confluence
Key features
AppFlowy
- Notion-style block editor with databases
- Local-first mode, works offline
- Native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android
- Plugins and open API
Docmost
- Spaces and team permissions
- Real-time collaborative editing
- Comments and page versioning
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