head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs reflect-open
AppFlowy has 77,037 GitHub stars, 6,051 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped today. reflect-open has 1,530 stars, 123 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped today. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 4,935% (77,037 vs 1,530 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; reflect-open is written in TypeScript under MIT. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, reflect-open 8%. reflect-open 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 | reflect-open | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Dart | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.1K | ⑂ 123 |
| 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 reflect-open if
- You want the reflect-open feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and reflect-open 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 reflect-open
Reflect open is an open source, local first rewrite of Reflect for people who want a Markdown based note taking app on Mac and iPhone that AI agents and other tools can read, edit, and script directly.
read the full reflect-open overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or reflect-open more popular?
AppFlowy has 77,037 GitHub stars and reflect-open has 1,530. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and reflect-open free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and reflect-open under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and reflect-open?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and reflect-open in TypeScript. 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 reflect-open?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (77,037 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose reflect-open if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.