A practical look at two of the most-starred open-source Notion alternatives, AppFlowy and AFFiNE, and how to read their public GitHub signals to judge which are still under active development.
Plenty of projects call themselves "the open-source Notion alternative." Fewer stay under steady development once the initial excitement fades, and an abandoned repository is a real risk if you plan to build a workspace, a wiki, or a team knowledge base on top of it. The good news is that development activity is one of the few things you can check yourself, in public, before committing.
This comparison focuses on the two most-starred contenders on GitHub, AppFlowy (AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy) and AFFiNE (toeverything/AFFiNE), and reads their repository signals as observed on 2026-08-21. The question is not which has the nicer feature list; it is which one shows the clearer evidence of ongoing work.
At a glance
In short
Short answer (as of 2026-09-08): Of the two most-starred open-source Notion alternatives, AFFiNE is the one whose activity is where you expect it — 174 commits on its default branch in the 90 days to 2026-09-08, newest 2026-09-07, with its newest release tags pointing at commits from the weeks they shipped. AppFlowy (76.4k stars) reads very differently depending on which repository you open: AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy's default branch received 1 commit in those 90 days (9 in 52 weeks; newest 2026-06-26), yet it published 7 stable releases in the same window, the latest 0.14.1 on 2026-09-01 — and the tags for 0.14.1, 0.14.0 and 0.13.2 all point at the same commit 5cf3a36 dated 2026-06-26. The visible work moved to the sibling AppFlowy-Web repository (121 commits and 26 releases in 90 days, newest commit 2026-09-08, 325 stars); the AppFlowy-Cloud repository — which GitHub lists as archived — had 4. By the desktop repository's own signals AppFlowy has slowed; by the organisation's, development continues — in the Web repository. Our 2026-08-21 table below counted only the desktop repository, which is why it read as near-dormant.
Pros & cons
AppFlowyPros
Very large community: 75.8k stars and 5.9k forks on GitHub as of 2026-08-21
Cross-platform via Flutter and Rust, with native desktop builds (macOS, Windows, Linux) and mobile apps listed on the App Store and Play Store
Publishes a ROADMAP.md and a public roadmap
AGPL-3.0 licensed with self-hosting documented in the repository
Cons
Recent commit cadence on GitHub had slowed to roughly 9 commits over the trailing 52 weeks, with the latest commit dated 2026-08-11 (as of 2026-08-21)
Carried 103 open pull requests and 896 open issues as of 2026-08-21
Its "actively developed" status is marginal on recent-activity signals; the dated commit counts above are the evidence, and they will age
AFFiNEPros
Active canary development branch with ongoing commits
Larger commit history: 11,465 total commits on GitHub as of 2026-08-21
Documents Docker-based self-hosting in the README
Lists both a LICENSE and a LICENSE-MIT file; 71.7k stars as of 2026-08-21
Cons
The repository listing showed no roadmap file as of 2026-08-21
The pages we read did not cover native mobile apps
Carried 106 open pull requests and 605 open issues as of 2026-08-21
52 weeks of commits, week by week (measured 2026-08-21)
| Repository | 2025-08-22 → 2025-11-21 | 2025-11-21 → 2026-02-20 | 2026-02-20 → 2026-05-22 | 2026-05-22 → 2026-08-21 | 52-week total | Week by week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AppFlowy | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| AFFiNE | 135 | 206 | 237 | 185 | 763 | |
| Outline | 325 | 432 | 537 | 719 | 2,013 | |
| Docmost | 61 | 116 | 191 | 73 | 441 | |
| SiYuan | 1,121 | 1,213 | 1,303 | 3,995 | 7,632 |
Reading each project's public GitHub statistics endpoint on 2026-08-21, we tallied weekly commit counts over the same trailing 52 weeks for every row: SiYuan logged 7,632 commits in that span while AppFlowy logged just 9, with the others between them (Outline 2,013, AFFiNE 763, Docmost 441). The shape over time is as telling as the totals — Outline and SiYuan trended upward into the most recent 13-week window (Outline 325→432→537→719; SiYuan's latest quarter alone reaching 3,995), whereas AppFlowy's desktop repository was near-dormant (that row counts AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy alone; when we re-read the same endpoint on 2026-09-08, the organisation's AppFlowy-Web repository showed 552 commits over its own trailing 52 weeks — see the 2026-09-08 table further down) and Docmost's most recent quarter (73) fell back below its peak. For someone deciding whether to build on one of these tools, a steady or rising cadence with a recent commit suggests the code is still being actively maintained and is less likely to be abruptly abandoned, which matters most for security fixes and issue response. It establishes none of the things a user actually cares about, however: commit volume is not a measure of code quality, of meaningful progress rather than churn, of how many people run the software, or of whether any given project will still exist a year from now.
Weekly commit counts for the last 52 weeks, from each repository's own GitHub statistics endpoint, grouped into four 13-week windows. Every repository is measured over the same 52 weeks, so the columns are directly comparable. Commit counts include merges, dependency bumps and documentation edits, and a monorepo will always show more commits than a single-purpose repository — this measures how busy a repository is, not progress, quality, or how much of the work reaches users. Collected by this site on 2026-08-21 (2026-08-21T00:12:28Z) by calling the public APIs ourselves — 15 of 15 requests returned data. These are our own readings, not figures supplied by any vendor.
How to judge whether an open-source project is still being developed
Star counts tell you a project was once popular. They do not tell you whether anyone is still shipping code. To answer "is this actually being developed," a few public signals on the GitHub repository page carry more weight:
Recent commit cadence. A single fresh commit is reassuring, but the trailing-year rhythm matters more. GitHub's activity view shows roughly how many commits landed over the last 52 weeks.
Latest commit date. When was the most recent change merged into the default branch?
Active development branch. Some projects do their live work on a branch such as canary or main; a moving branch is a healthy sign.
Open pull requests versus merges. A large stack of open pull requests that is not being cleared can indicate maintenance has slowed.
Roadmap and changelog. A published roadmap or changelog signals ongoing planning.
None of these is decisive on its own. Read them together, and check them yourself on the day you decide, because activity can change quickly.
AppFlowy: a quiet desktop repository, with the work in AppFlowy-Web
AppFlowy is one of the best-known projects in this space. Its GitHub repository showed 75.8k stars, 5.9k forks and 7,210 total commits as of 2026-08-21, and it is licensed under AGPL-3.0. It is built with Flutter and Rust, ships desktop builds for macOS, Windows and Linux, and lists native mobile apps on the App Store (iPhone) and the Play Store (Android). The repository also carries a ROADMAP.md file and links to a public roadmap.
The caution is in the recent rhythm. On the AppFlowy GitHub repository page on 2026-08-21, the trailing-52-week activity was light — on the order of nine commits over the last year — with the most recent commit dated 2026-08-11. At the same time the repository listed 103 open pull requests and 896 open issues. A big historical codebase plus a fresh commit is not the same as steady, continuous development — and the 2026-09-08 re-read below separates the two.
Re-read on 2026-09-08. The picture above is what AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy shows, and it is incomplete. On 2026-09-08 that repository's default branch had 1 commit in the trailing 90 days and its newest commit was dated 2026-06-26 — yet the same repository published 7 stable releases in those 90 days (latest 0.14.1, 2026-09-01), and its release tags for 0.14.1, 0.14.0 and 0.13.2 all resolve to the one commit 5cf3a36 from 2026-06-26. The organisation's other repositories explain the gap: AppFlowy-Web had 121 commits and 26 releases in the same 90 days, its newest commit on 2026-09-08 and each of its newest tags pointing at a commit from the day it shipped, while AppFlowy-Cloud — which GitHub lists as archived — had 4 commits (newest 2026-08-31) and no release since 2025-07-04. So the honest reading is narrower than "slowing": the desktop repository that carries the 76.4k stars is quiet, and the development you can see from outside now happens in AppFlowy-Web, a repository with 325 stars. What that means for the desktop and mobile apps is not something these counts can tell you.
AFFiNE: an active development branch and a heavier commit history
AFFiNE shows the stronger set of development signals. Its GitHub repository listed 71.7k stars, 5.2k forks and 11,465 total commits as of 2026-08-21, and it does its live work on a canary branch that showed ongoing commit activity. The repository includes its BlockSuite editor framework alongside a TypeScript codebase, and it also carries Rust tooling (Cargo.toml, Cargo.lock and a rust-toolchain file). On licensing, the repository lists both a LICENSE and a LICENSE-MIT file. Self-hosting is documented in the README, which describes deploying your own instance with Docker.
By the signals that matter for the "still being developed" question — a moving development branch, the larger commit history, and continuing recent commits — AFFiNE reads as actively developed. As of 2026-08-21 it listed 106 open pull requests and 605 open issues.
AppFlowy vs AFFiNE: development signals side by side
The comparison table sets the two repositories against each other on the signals a reader would use to answer the query. A few notes on how to read it: a higher star count reflects popularity rather than development, so those rows are left unscored; commit totals and recent cadence speak more directly to whether work is ongoing. Where the pages we read did not cover something for one product, that cell is marked "Not covered on the pages we read" and left unscored rather than counted against either side.
The pattern that emerges is consistent. AFFiNE leads on the activity-focused rows (total commits and recent cadence), while AppFlowy leads on published planning artifacts (a roadmap file) and lists native mobile apps that the AFFiNE pages we read did not cover.
What both projects share
Both are open-source and self-hostable, which is the reason people look at them as Notion alternatives in the first place. AppFlowy is distributed under AGPL-3.0 and documents self-hosting in its repository; AFFiNE lists a LICENSE and a LICENSE-MIT file and documents Docker-based self-hosting in its README. Both also mix a scripting/UI layer with Rust: AppFlowy pairs Flutter with Rust, while AFFiNE's repository includes Cargo and rust-toolchain files alongside its TypeScript and BlockSuite code. If your priority is owning your data on your own infrastructure, either project supports that path as documented on their repository pages on 2026-08-21.
Verdict
Both AppFlowy and AFFiNE are substantial, open-source, self-hostable Notion alternatives with large codebases. The question here is narrow — which is actually being developed right now — and on 2026-09-08 the answer depends on where you look.
AFFiNE answers it in one place. Its default branch took 174 commits in the 90 days to 2026-09-08 (newest 2026-09-07), and its newest release tags point at commits from the weeks they shipped. If the deciding factor is development you can see in the repository you would star, it is the clearer choice.
AppFlowy has to be read across three repositories. The desktop repository has slowed by every signal we count — 1 commit in 90 days, 9 in 52 weeks, 112 pull requests open — while still publishing releases whose tags sit on a commit from 2026-06-26. AppFlowy-Web, by contrast, moved every week (121 commits, 26 releases in the same 90 days), and AppFlowy-Cloud — which GitHub lists as archived — has 4. Development has moved rather than stopped; what our counts cannot say is how much of it reaches the desktop and mobile apps. Both readings are in the 2026-09-08 table below, with the tag-to-commit column that makes the difference visible.
FAQ
Is AppFlowy still being actively developed?
It depends on which repository you read. As of 2026-09-08, AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy's default branch had 1 commit in the trailing 90 days (newest 2026-06-26) and 112 pull requests open, yet the project published 7 stable releases in that window whose tags all point at one commit from 2026-06-26. The organisation's AppFlowy-Web repository had 121 commits and 26 releases in the same 90 days, with its newest commit on 2026-09-08. Development has moved to the Web repository rather than stopped.
Is AFFiNE actively maintained?
Yes, by the signals we read on 2026-09-08: 174 commits on its default branch in the trailing 90 days, the newest dated 2026-09-07, 4 stable and 30 pre-releases in the same window, and newest release tags that point at commits from the weeks they shipped.
Can I self-host both AppFlowy and AFFiNE?
Both document a self-hosting path on their repository pages as of 2026-08-21. AppFlowy includes a self-hosting section in its repository, and AFFiNE's README describes deploying your own instance with Docker. Both are open-source: AppFlowy under AGPL-3.0, and AFFiNE lists a LICENSE and a LICENSE-MIT file.
Which should I choose if I want the one most likely to keep shipping updates?
On the 2026-09-08 readings, AFFiNE — its development is visible in the one repository you would star (174 commits in 90 days). AppFlowy is still shipping (7 stable releases in 90 days) and its Web repository is busy (121 commits), but the desktop repository itself has slowed to 1 commit in 90 days, so what you see from its GitHub page understates the project.
What we measured: repository activity
The figures below were collected by us on the dates shown, not taken from vendor marketing. Each table says what was read or measured, on which machine, and when.
| Repository | Stars | Last commit | Commits (90 d) | Releases (90 d) | Latest release | Open issues / PRs | License | Newest release tags → commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AppFlowy (AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy — desktop/mobile) | 76,443 | 2026-06-26 | 1 | 7 (+1 pre) | 0.14.1 · 2026-09-01 | 914 / 112 | AGPL-3.0 | 0.14.1 → 5cf3a36 (2026-06-26) 0.14.0 → 5cf3a36 (2026-06-26) 0.13.2 → 5cf3a36 (2026-06-26) |
| AppFlowy-Web (AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy-Web) | 325 | 2026-09-08 | 121 | 26 | 0.17.1 · 2026-08-31 | 26 / 17 | AGPL-3.0 | 0.17.1 → 647a69d (2026-08-31) 0.17.0 → d90c35d (2026-08-28) 0.16.18 → af0f5fc (2026-08-16) |
| AppFlowy-Cloud (AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy-Cloud) (archived) | 2,003 | 2026-08-31 | 4 | 0 | 0.9.64 · 2025-07-04 | 98 / 16 | AGPL-3.0 | 0.9.64 → ecf8c03 (2025-07-04) 0.9.63 → 0a7ef3f (2025-07-02) 0.9.62 → ee26062 (2025-06-27) |
| AFFiNE (toeverything/AFFiNE) | 72,327 | 2026-09-07 | 174 | 4 (+30 pre) | v0.27.4 · 2026-08-18 | 620 / 111 | NOASSERTION | v0.27.4 → b4c8548 (2026-08-17) v0.27.3 → 174ad9b (2026-07-23) v0.27.2 → 81df475 (2026-07-19) |
Read from the GitHub API on 2026-09-08: stars; the date of the newest commit on the default branch; commits on that branch and releases published in the 90 days ending that day (2026-06-10 → 2026-09-08), pre-releases counted separately; open issues and open pull requests at that moment ("issues off" = the project does not use GitHub issues); and the license GitHub detects. Commit counts are the repository's own history, so squash-merged projects show fewer commits than merge-heavy ones. "archived" = GitHub lists the repository as archived (read-only) on that day. "Newest release tags → commit" resolves each of the newest stable release tags to the commit it points at and that commit's date, read the same day — it shows whether releases are being cut from new code on the default branch.
Sources
Originally published at https://utilverse.info/compare/which-open-source-notion-alternatives-are-actually-being-developed-appflowy-vs-affine-2026/.
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