Notion is excellent, but it has three flaws that end up weighing on you: your data sits on a single company's servers, offline mode is still limited, and the bill climbs fast as soon as the team grows and AI gets bundled into the plan.
The good news: in 2026, the open alternatives are no longer prototypes. We migrated a real workspace (120 pages, 4 databases, 6 people) to each of them. Here is what we kept.
The summary table#
| Notre choixAppFlowy | AFFiNE | Docmost | Outline | Anytype | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Notes + databases | Docs + whiteboard | Team wiki | Knowledge base | Private notes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT (+ enterprise parts) | AGPL-3.0 (+ EE) | BSL 1.1 | Source available |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes | Yes, Docker | Yes, Docker | P2P network |
| Offline | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes, local-first |
| Notion import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Databases | Yes (table, kanban, calendar views) | Partial | No | No | Yes (objects and relations) |
| GitHub stars | ~75k | ~70k | ~21k | ~40k | ~8k |
Our picks in detail#
AppFlowy
Our pickOfficial site of AppFlowy- License
- AGPL-3.0
- Hosting
- Cloud or self-hosted
- Price
- Free, optional paid cloud
The closest to Notion in daily use: pages, databases with table, kanban and calendar views, templates, and a fast desktop app written in Rust and Flutter. The Notion import keeps the structure well. The weak spot: self-hosting the sync server takes some patience (several services to configure).
AFFiNE
Official site of AFFiNE- License
- MIT, separate enterprise backend
- Hosting
- Cloud or self-hosted
- Price
- Free, Pro plan for the cloud
AFFiNE blends documents and an infinite whiteboard: you switch from a page to a canvas view to organise ideas. Perfect for planning a project or a workshop. Databases are still less mature than AppFlowy's.
Docmost
Official site of Docmost- License
- AGPL-3.0, separate enterprise edition
- Hosting
- Self-hosted (Docker)
- Price
- Free when self-hosted
The best choice for a team wiki: spaces, fine-grained permissions, real-time collaborative editing, built-in Draw.io and Excalidraw diagrams. No Notion-style databases, but for documentation it is the most pleasant. Install it in fifteen minutes with our Docker Compose tutorial.
Outline
Official site of Outline- License
- BSL 1.1 (source available)
- Hosting
- Cloud or self-hosted
- Price
- Free when self-hosted, paid cloud
Outline is a polished, fast knowledge base with excellent search and solid Slack integrations. Its BSL license forbids reselling it as a competing service, which does not matter for internal use. Self-hosting requires an authentication provider (Google, Slack, OIDC).
Anytype
Official site of Anytype- License
- Any Source Available License 1.0
- Hosting
- Local-first, encrypted P2P sync
- Price
- Free, paid network storage beyond the quota
Anytype stores everything on your devices, end-to-end encrypted, and syncs peer to peer. Its objects-and-relations model is powerful but takes time to get used to. The ideal choice for a personal second brain where privacy matters.
How to choose#
- You want Notion without Notion: AppFlowy. It asks for the fewest changes in your habits.
- You document a technical team: self-hosted Docmost on a small VPS. To pick a host, see our Hostinger vs o2switch vs OVHcloud comparison.
- You think in diagrams: AFFiNE and its whiteboard.
- You want maximum privacy: Anytype.
AppFlowy
8.4/10
AppFlowy reproduces the core of Notion (pages, databases, views) without locking in your data. For pure team documentation, Docmost is our pick.
- Who it's for
- Developers and small teams who want Notion's databases, locally or on their own server.
- Who should skip it
- Teams that only need a wiki: Docmost is simpler and faster to deploy.
Migrate from Notion without losing anything#
- In Notion, open Settings → Export all workspace content, as Markdown and CSV, subpages included.
- Import the archive with the import tool of the alternative you picked (every tool on this list has one).
- Check the databases first: relations and formulas are what converts worst.
- Keep Notion read-only for a month before cancelling, to spot what is missing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free alternative to Notion?
AppFlowy, because it is so close to Notion: pages, databases and kanban or calendar views, for free under the AGPL license. For a team wiki, Docmost fits better.
Can I import my Notion pages into an open source alternative?
Yes. AppFlowy, AFFiNE, Docmost, Outline and Anytype all import a Notion export. Pages and text come through well; database formulas and relations often need manual rework.
Is Outline really open source?
Not strictly: Outline is published under the Business Source License 1.1. The code is readable and self-hosting is allowed for internal use, but the license is not approved by the Open Source Initiative.
Which Notion alternative works offline?
Anytype is built to work local-first, with encrypted sync. AppFlowy and AFFiNE also work offline in their desktop apps.
