head to head · open source
AppFlowy vs Zen
AppFlowy has 76,797 GitHub stars, 6,023 forks, 1,030 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Zen has 1,174 stars, 61 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. AppFlowy leads on adoption by 6,441% (76,797 vs 1,174 stars). AppFlowy is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0; Zen is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. AppFlowy has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Zen 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.
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Side by side
| AppFlowy | Zen | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 77K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Dart | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.0K | ⑂ 61 |
| 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 Zen if
- You want the Zen feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Zen 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 Zen
Zen is a self hosted note taking application that ships as a single Go binary or as a Docker Compose stack. Notes are written and stored as standard Markdown, with the content and its metadata kept in a local SQLite database. The project sits in the self hosted productivity and knowledge management ecosystem, alongside other personal note servers, and it presents itself as clean, distraction free, and lightweight by design.
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppFlowy or Zen more popular?
AppFlowy has 76,797 GitHub stars and Zen has 1,174. AppFlowy has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppFlowy and Zen free?
Both are open source. AppFlowy is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Zen under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppFlowy and Zen?
AppFlowy is written in Dart and Zen in JavaScript. 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 Zen?
Choose AppFlowy if you want the larger community (76,797 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Zen if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.