head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs pm-brain
AppFlowy has 78,112 GitHub stars, 6,160 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. pm-brain has 952 stars, 193 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 8,105% (78,112 vs 952 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; pm-brain is written in Python under MIT. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, pm-brain 20%. 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.
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Side by side
| AppFlowy | pm-brain | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 78K | ★ 952 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Dart | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-05-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 193 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AppFlowy if
- You weight community size — 78K 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 pm-brain if
- You want the pm-brain feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pm-brain fits your workflow better
About AppFlowy
AppFlowy ⭐️ The Open Source Alternative To Notion ⭐️ AppFlowy is the AI workspace where you achieve more without losing control of your data Website • Forum • Discord • Reddit • Twitter User Installation Download AppFlowy Desktop (macOS, Windows, and Linux) Other channels: FlatHub, Snapcraft, Sourceforge Available on App Store: iPhone Play Store: Android 10 or above; ARMv7 is not supported Self hosting AppFlowy Source Built With Flutter Rust Stay Up to Date Getting Started with development Please view the documentation for OS specific development instructions Roadmap AppFlowy Roadmap ReadMe AppFlowy Public…
read the full AppFlowy overview →
About pm-brain
PM Brain A second brain for product managers. Plain markdown files in a folder on your laptop. Claude reads them before answering, writes to them after, sweeps them every Friday. No vector DB. No cloud. No agent memory tricks. You manage one product. Your context is scattered across Notion, Linear, Slack, your dashboards, and your head. You ship a feature. Six weeks later, nobody remembers why you killed the other option. PM Brain fixes that. See it in action: A week with PM Brain: Lena's first five days is a short story of one PM using it on a real team. New here? Start there. Research preview. The architecture…
read the full pm-brain overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or pm-brain more popular?
AppFlowy has 78,112 GitHub stars and pm-brain has 952. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and pm-brain free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pm-brain under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and pm-brain?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and pm-brain in Python. 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 pm-brain?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (78,112 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pm-brain if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.