head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Affine
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars, 15,326 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Affine has 72,715 stars, 5,283 forks, 732 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 82% (132,233 vs 72,715 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Affine is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Affine 7%. Excalidraw 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
| Excalidraw | Affine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 73K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 5.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 132K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Affine if
- You want the Affine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Affine fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw is an open source virtual whiteboard application built in TypeScript, designed for sketching hand drawn style diagrams, wireframes, and freeform ideas. It lives within the web based productivity and design visualization ecosystem, offering a lightweight alternative to commercial tools like Figma, Miro, and Canva. The project includes both a standalone web app at excalidraw.com and an embeddable npm package for integration into third party applications.
read the full Excalidraw overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Affine more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars and Affine has 72,715. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Affine free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT, and Affine has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Affine?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Affine 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, Excalidraw or Affine?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,233 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Affine if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.