head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs Butterfly
AppFlowy has 76,854 GitHub stars, 6,026 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Butterfly has 2,024 stars, 151 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 3,697% (76,854 vs 2,024 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; Butterfly is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Butterfly 7%. AppFlowy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (flutter, note-taking), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| AppFlowy | Butterfly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Dart | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 151 |
| 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 Butterfly if
- You want the Butterfly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and Butterfly 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 Butterfly
Butterfly is a free, open source, cross platform note taking and drawing application built with Flutter and Dart, made for people who think visually and want an endless workspace for handwritten, typed, and imported content on desktop and Android.
read the full Butterfly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or Butterfly more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,854 GitHub stars and Butterfly has 2,024. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and Butterfly free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Butterfly under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and Butterfly?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and Butterfly in Dart. 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 Butterfly?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,854 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Butterfly if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.