Comparison

AppFlowy vs AFFiNE

AppFlowy and AFFiNE both land on Depends.

AppFlowy

Depends

Confidence: Medium

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.

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you're a solo user or tiny team wanting a free, privacy-first Notion+Miro hybrid and can tolerate rough edges.

AppFlowy versus AFFiNE
Compare	AppFlowy	AFFiNE
Verdict	Depends	Depends
Best for	Privacy-first teams	Privacy-focused solo note-takers
Who it's not for	Non-technical teams wanting a turnkey Notion experience	Teams handling sensitive data . RCE CVE, ignored XSS reports
Privacy	Active 2026 CVE record in AppFlowy-Cloud: authorization bypass, auth flaws, and authenticated SQL injection . patch promptly.^⁵	Active 2026 CVEs include remote code execution; researchers report ignored XSS findings; no dedicated security page found.
Support quality	Users report frustrating self-hosting with little help	Security reports allegedly ignored for months
Public sentiment	Users praise the privacy stance and free local AI but routinely flag clunky UI, painful self-hosting, and weak enterprise presence.^³	Sentiment is split: privacy-minded fans praise the lightweight local-first design, while others complain it feels raw and unstable.¹³
Biggest gotcha	AppFlowy-Cloud 0.7.2-0.9.64 has known auth flaws . stay current or risk exposure^⁵	Open-source license is not MIT despite marketing framing; verify terms before commercial use¹⁶