head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs dnote
AppFlowy has 76,868 GitHub stars, 6,028 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. dnote has 3,083 stars, 124 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 2,393% (76,868 vs 3,083 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; dnote is written in Go under Apache-2.0. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, dnote 4%. AppFlowy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| AppFlowy | dnote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Dart | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-07-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 124 |
| 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 dnote if
- You want the dnote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dnote 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 dnote
Dnote is a free, open source, single binary command line notebook for developers who want their notes kept as plain files they own rather than inside a proprietary hosted service.
read the full dnote 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 dnote more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,868 GitHub stars and dnote has 3,083. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and dnote free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and dnote under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and dnote?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and dnote in Go. 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 dnote?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,868 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose dnote if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.