head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs iwe
AppFlowy has 76,893 GitHub stars, 6,037 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped yesterday. iwe has 1,715 stars, 88 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 4,384% (76,893 vs 1,715 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; iwe is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, iwe 5%. AppFlowy 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 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| AppFlowy | iwe | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Dart | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 88 |
| 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 iwe if
- You want the iwe feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and iwe 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 iwe
IWE is a local first Rust tool that turns a directory of Markdown files into a knowledge graph, serving the same notes to your editor through a language server and to AI agents through a CLI and MCP server — it is built for anyone who wants database style queries over plain notes they continue to own.
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 iwe more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,893 GitHub stars and iwe has 1,715. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and iwe free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and iwe under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and iwe?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and iwe in Rust. 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 iwe?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,893 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose iwe if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.