head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs itsnotes
AppFlowy has 76,797 GitHub stars, 6,023 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. itsnotes has 32 stars, 3 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 239,891% (76,797 vs 32 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; itsnotes is written in JavaScript under MIT. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, itsnotes 9%. 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.
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Side by side
| AppFlowy | itsnotes | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 32 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Dart | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 3 |
| 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 itsnotes if
- You want the itsnotes feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and itsnotes 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 itsnotes
itsnotes is a self hosted, MIT licensed Google Keep replacement — built with React, Node.js, PostgreSQL and Socket.io — for people who like the sticky note masonry layout but need better navigation and organization, and who want their notes to stay on their own hardware.
read the full itsnotes overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or itsnotes more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,797 GitHub stars and itsnotes has 32. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and itsnotes free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and itsnotes under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and itsnotes?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and itsnotes in JavaScript. 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 itsnotes?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,797 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose itsnotes if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.