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AppFlowy Review

Depends

Should I use AppFlowy?

AppFlowy is the AI collaborative workspace where you achieve more without losing control of your data - appflowy.com

· 1 month ago

Buy it if data control outweighs polish and someone on your team can own patching and hosting; the free self-host core is genuinely capable. Skip it if you want a turnkey Notion replacement — 2026 CVEs, clunky UX, and self-hosting pain make it a bad fit for non-technical teams.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources: Reddit threads, CVE advisories, pricing pages, and independent reviews.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free / open source

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Cloud$10/user/mo

Best for

  • Privacy-first teams
  • Self-hosters wanting Notion-style docs
  • Open-source advocates
  • Indie hackers and individuals

Not for

  • Non-technical teams wanting a turnkey Notion experience
  • Anyone without time to patch frequent security updates
  • Enterprises needing vendor-grade compliance and support
  • Buyers who won't tolerate clunky, cluttered UI

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

AppFlowy-Cloud 0.7.2–0.9.64 has known auth flaws — stay current or risk exposure

high

Self-hosting spans multiple services; Reddit users report abandoned setups after hours of frustration

medium

Open-core model: cloud and some AI features sit behind paid plans despite open-source branding

medium

Only one local backup per day by default — verify your data integrity setup

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Open-source AGPL core you can self-host, with free local AI
  • Local AI is free for all users
  • One reviewer replaced Notion, Trello, and Asana entirely
  • Cloud plan starts at $10/user per month
  • Self-hosting reportedly fixed sync complaints for one reviewer

Cons

  • Four 2026 CVEs, including auth bypass and SQL injection
  • UI widely described as clunky and cluttered
  • Self-hosting reported as frustrating and time-consuming
  • Minimal presence on enterprise review sites

Sources & method

- 9 sources - Active 2026 CVE record in AppFlowy-Cloud: authorization bypass, auth flaws, and authenticated SQL injection — patch promptly.

official x2review x3security x2news x2
  • CVE-2026-88898, AppFlowy-Cloud 0.7.2–0.9.64 fail a required access check (missing authorization).
  • CVE-2026-85619, AppFlowy-Cloud 0.9.64 authenticated API authorization bypass.
  • CVE-2026-85622, Medium-severity incorrect authorization issue in AppFlowy-Cloud.
  • CVE-2026-16007, Authenticated SQL injection affecting AppFlowy's QuickNote feature.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 9

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free self-host core with local AI; cloud from $10/user
  • Ease of use: 2/5. UI repeatedly called clunky and cluttered
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Docs, boards, AI cover Notion basics, less polish
  • Support quality: 2/5. Users report frustrating self-hosting with little help
  • Security posture: 2/5. Four 2026 CVEs incl. auth bypass and SQLi
  • $10/user/mo Cloud price starting price
  • Yes Free tier open-source self-host + free local AI
  • $6.4M Funding seed round, Nov 2023, Singapore
  • 4 2026 CVEs incl. auth bypass and SQL injection

Pricing

Free / open source

$0

  • Self-host unlimited docs
  • Free local AI
  • Community support

Cloud

$10/user/mo

  • Hosted collaborative workspace
  • No server management

Security

Active 2026 CVE record in AppFlowy-Cloud: authorization bypass, auth flaws, and authenticated SQL injection — patch promptly.

  • CVE-2026-88898AppFlowy-Cloud 0.7.2–0.9.64 fail a required access check (missing authorization).⁵
  • CVE-2026-85619AppFlowy-Cloud 0.9.64 authenticated API authorization bypass.
  • CVE-2026-85622Medium-severity incorrect authorization issue in AppFlowy-Cloud.
  • CVE-2026-16007Authenticated SQL injection affecting AppFlowy's QuickNote feature.⁶

What users say

Users praise the privacy stance and free local AI but routinely flag clunky UI, painful self-hosting, and weak enterprise presence.

“I ditched Notion, Trello, and Asana for this open-source app and it blew my mind”
XDA Developers review
“AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and self-hosting it fixed my biggest complaint”
daily.dev post
“Tried self-hosting AppFlowy — turns out it's not really open-...”
Reddit, r/SelfHosting
Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources: Reddit threads, CVE advisories, pricing pages, and independent reviews.

Strong privacy play for self-hosters, but 2026 CVEs and clunky UX make it a poor Notion swap for non-technical teams.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources: Reddit threads, CVE advisories, pricing pages, and independent reviews.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. AppFlowy Pricing - Cloud & Self-hosted Plansappflowy.com
    official
  2. AppFlowy GitHub (AGPL-3.0)github.com
    official
  3. Tried self-hosting AppFlowy (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  4. I ditched Notion, Trello, and Asana (XDA)xda-developers.com
    review
  5. CVE-2026-88898 (Rapid7)rapid7.com
    security
  6. AppFlowy Authenticated SQL Injection (Project Black)projectblack.io
    security
  7. 5 Awesome AppFlowy Alternatives (Sliplane)sliplane.io
    news
  8. AppFlowy Raises $6.4M in Seed Fundingfinsmes.com
    news
  9. AppFlowy Details, Reviews, Pricing (CheckThat)checkthat.ai
    review

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