head to head · open source
Affine vs AnyType
Affine has 72,729 GitHub stars, 5,285 forks, 732 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. AnyType has 8,830 stars, 580 forks, 209 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Affine leads on adoption by 724% (72,729 vs 8,830 stars). Affine is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; AnyType is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Affine has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, AnyType 7%. AnyType was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Affine | AnyType | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 580 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Affine if
- You weight community size — 73K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick AnyType if
- You want the AnyType feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and AnyType fits your workflow better
About Affine
AFFiNE is an open source, privacy first workspace that merges documentation, whiteboarding, and databases into one hyper fused platform. It lives in the productivity and knowledge management ecosystem, positioned as a direct alternative to Notion and Miro. Built with local first principles, it ensures users retain full control of their data while supporting real time collaboration across web and desktop clients.
read the full Affine overview →
About AnyType
Anytype Desktop is the official cross platform client for Anytype, a local first, peer to peer, end to end encrypted personal knowledge base for macOS, Windows and Linux, built for people who want Notion style pages, tasks and databases while keeping their data on their own devices.
read the full AnyType overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Affine or AnyType more popular?
Affine has 72,729 GitHub stars and AnyType has 8,830. Affine has the larger community by that measure.
Are Affine and AnyType free?
Neither Affine nor AnyType declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Affine and AnyType?
Affine is written in TypeScript and AnyType in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Affine or AnyType?
Choose Affine if you want the larger community (72,729 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose AnyType if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.