head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs silverbullet
AppFlowy has 76,826 GitHub stars, 6,021 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. silverbullet has 6,093 stars, 482 forks, 345 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 1,161% (76,826 vs 6,093 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; silverbullet is written in TypeScript under MIT. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, silverbullet 8%. silverbullet 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 | silverbullet | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Dart | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 482 |
| 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 silverbullet if
- You want the silverbullet feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and silverbullet 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 silverbullet
SilverBullet is an open source, self hosted, browser based personal knowledge database that stores notes as Markdown pages and makes them programmable with Space Lua, aimed at individual knowledge workers who want a notes app they can script rather than merely configure.
read the full silverbullet overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or silverbullet more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,826 GitHub stars and silverbullet has 6,093. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and silverbullet free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and silverbullet under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and silverbullet?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and silverbullet 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 silverbullet?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,826 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose silverbullet if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.