AppFlowy vs Huly: 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 | Huly | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | ~59k | ~11k |
| Tech stack | Rust, Flutter, PostgreSQL | Rust, React, MongoDB |
| Replaces | Notion | Linear, Notion, Slack |
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
Huly
Projects + chat + docs in one, an alternative to Linear/Notion/Slack.
ℹ️ This single-container docker-compose doesn't match how Huly is actually deployed: the hardcoreeng/huly image doesn't exist, and the real project is ~10 independent microservices orchestrated by the official installer. Use huly-selfhost (github.com/hcengineering/huly-selfhost) for a deployment that actually works — we aren't rewriting that topology here without being able to verify it service by service.
Pros
- Replaces three different SaaS tools with a single deployment
Things to consider
- Young project, integration ecosystem still limited
- This catalog's docker-compose isn't deployable as-is (see note above) — use the official huly-selfhost installer
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
Huly
- Linear-style issues and projects
- Team chat and channels
- Collaborative documents
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