head to head · open source

Affine vs Ray.so

Affine has 72,715 GitHub stars, 5,283 forks, 732 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Ray.so has 2,360 stars, 348 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Affine leads on adoption by 2,981% (72,715 vs 2,360 stars). Affine is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Ray.so is written in TypeScript under MIT. Affine has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Ray.so 15%. Affine 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.

Affine ★ 73K Ray.so ★ 2.4K category Productivity & Utilities

← all 8884 open source comparisons

Side by side

Affine Ray.so
GitHub stars ★ 73K ★ 2.4K
License Custom / other MIT
Written in TypeScript TypeScript
Last push 2026-09-15 2026-09-15
Forks ⑂ 5.3K ⑂ 348
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

full Affine profile →

pick Ray.so if

  • You want the Ray.so feature set and don't need the biggest community
  • You prefer the MIT license terms
  • Your stack matches TypeScript
  • You evaluated both and Ray.so fits your workflow better

full Ray.so profile →

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 Ray.so

Ray.so is the open source codebase behind ray.so, a collection of small web tools built by Raycast. The repository holds the source for a Next.js application that ships seven separate utilities under one roof: Code Images for turning source code into shareable pictures, Icon Maker for producing icons for Raycast Extensions, and five explorer tools that let visitors browse and import AI Prompts, AI Presets, Quicklinks, Snippets, and Themes. The project is written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license, and it lives in the JavaScript and React ecosystem, built on top of the Next.js framework.…

read the full Ray.so overview →

More in Productivity & Utilities

n8n ★ 205K Excalidraw ★ 132K RustDesk ★ 124K Browser Use ★ 115K LocalSend ★ 92K AppFlowy ★ 77K

Related comparisons

excalidraw vs affine excalidraw vs ray-so affine vs penpot affine vs tldraw excalidraw vs penpot excalidraw vs tldraw excalidraw vs graphite excalidraw vs chalkist n8n vs browser-use n8n vs frigate n8n vs lightpanda n8n vs proxmoxve n8n vs activepieces n8n vs skyvern n8n vs automa n8n vs livekit n8n vs obs-studio n8n vs sharex n8n vs kap excalidraw vs obs-studio n8n vs snapify excalidraw vs sharex excalidraw vs kap excalidraw vs snapify

More Design & Visualization projects

Compare either of these against the rest of the Design & Visualization field.

Affine vs Excalidraw Affine vs Penpot Affine vs Tldraw Affine vs Graphite Affine vs Chalk.ist

Frequently asked questions

Is Affine or Ray.so more popular?

Affine has 72,715 GitHub stars and Ray.so has 2,360. Affine has the larger community by that measure.

Are Affine and Ray.so free?

Both are open source. Affine has no licence declared in this registry, and Ray.so is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.

What is the difference between Affine and Ray.so?

Affine is written in TypeScript and Ray.so 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 Ray.so?

Choose Affine if you want the larger community (72,715 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Ray.so if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.