head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs AnyType
AppFlowy has 76,797 GitHub stars, 6,023 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. AnyType has 8,828 stars, 580 forks, 209 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 770% (76,797 vs 8,828 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; AnyType is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. AppFlowy has attracted 8% 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| AppFlowy | AnyType | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Dart | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 580 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AppFlowy if
- You weight community size — 77K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- 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 AppFlowy
AppFlowy is an open source collaborative workspace platform that combines note taking, project management, wikis, and AI features into a single interface. It runs as a desktop and mobile application and supports self hosting, built with Flutter for the frontend and Rust for the backend. AppFlowy lives in the productivity and knowledge management ecosystem, positioned explicitly as a Notion alternative.
read the full AppFlowy 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 →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or AnyType more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,797 GitHub stars and AnyType has 8,828. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and AnyType free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and AnyType has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and AnyType?
AppFlowy is written in Dart 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, AppFlowy or AnyType?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,797 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose AnyType if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.