head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs Lorien
AppFlowy has 76,826 GitHub stars, 6,021 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Lorien has 6,797 stars, 306 forks, 78 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 1,030% (76,826 vs 6,797 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; Lorien is written in GDScript under MIT. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Lorien 5%. 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 | Lorien | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 6.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Dart | GDScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2025-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 306 |
| 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 Lorien if
- You want the Lorien feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches GDScript
- You evaluated both and Lorien 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 Lorien
Lorien is an infinite canvas drawing and whiteboarding application for Windows, Linux and macOS, built with the Godot game engine and aimed at people who want a fast, simple digital notebook for note taking, brainstorming and light diagramming.
read the full Lorien overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or Lorien more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,826 GitHub stars and Lorien has 6,797. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and Lorien free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Lorien under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and Lorien?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and Lorien in GDScript. 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 Lorien?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,826 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Lorien if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.