The #1 Self-Hosted Notion Alternative
Open-Core, self-hosted, local and on-prem AI, cross platform
Enjoy the flexibility without losing control of your data
On-prem and local AI
AI on your terms, not your vendor's. Run local models offline or connect a self-hosted LLM.
Deploy Anywhere
Run AppFlowy on your hardware, your cloud region, or in a fully air-gapped environment.
Cross-platform
Works consistently across platforms your team works on; including completely offline.
Compare features
| Feature | Notion | AppFlowy |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting | ||
| Complete Data Control | ||
| Local and on-prem LLM support | ||
| Customization and extensibility | ||
| Offline workspace | ||
| Native mobile and desktop apps | ||
| Open-Core |
Questions & Answers
What is the biggest difference between Notion and AppFlowy?
While Notion locks teams into a rigid, proprietary cloud, AppFlowy delivers complete data sovereignty through a modular, self-hosted workspace built to fit your exact infrastructure.
AppFlowy gives organizations complete control over where their data lives, how it is stored, and how the platform is deployed. Teams can run AppFlowy on their own infrastructure, in their preferred cloud region, or even in fully air-gapped environments. This ensures teams remain in full control of their data, allowing organizations to meet their own security, compliance, residency, and retention requirements.
AppFlowy features a highly modular architecture that seamlessly integrates into your existing IT system via configurable services such as custom authentication, local and on-prem LLMs, public APIs, storage, and white-label applications. This extensible design empowers enterprise teams to tailor AppFlowy directly to their tech stack.
Notion is a proprietary SaaS platform that requires organizations to cede control over their data, infrastructure, and feature roadmap. As teams accumulate more data within the platform, they often find themselves deeply locked in, making future migration increasingly difficult.
Can I self-host AppFlowy? Can I self-host Notion?
Yes, AppFlowy can be fully self-hosted and deployed on infrastructure you control.
Organizations can self-host AppFlowy using Docker, Kubernetes, or their preferred infrastructure stack while maintaining complete control over networking, storage, authentication, backups, and security policies. Teams can also choose which components to enable, including AI services, object storage providers, and external integrations.
Can AppFlowy fully replace Notion?
For many organizations and individuals, yes.
AppFlowy provides collaborative documents, wikis, project management, databases, AI capabilities, and workspace management features that cover the majority of workflows teams use Notion for today.
Can I run AI locally in AppFlowy? Can I run AI locally in Notion?
Yes, you can run local AI via Ollama or LMStudio in AppFlowy.
What unique AI features does AppFlowy offer that Notion doesn't support?
Vault Workspace is a special AI workspace type that Notion doesn't support. It provides a full-featured AI that runs entirely on your device.
How do AppFlowy's databases compare to Notion's?
AppFlowy's database capabilities have advanced significantly and are among the most feature-complete options available for organizations seeking a self-hosted alternative to Notion.
Can I migrate from Notion to AppFlowy?
Yes. AppFlowy provides tools to help individuals and organizations migrate existing content from Notion. AppFlowy provides the most complete Notion migration experience among other self-hosted alternatives.