Affine: Free Open Source Notion Alternative

In a world dominated by productivity tools like Notion and Evernote, Affine emerges as a refreshing, open-source contender. Designed for teams and individuals who value flexibility, privacy, and extensibility, Affine blends structured content, freeform creativity, and collaboration into one seamless experience.

Whether you're building a knowledge base, organizing your tasks, or sketching ideas in whiteboard mode, Affine is built to adapt to your workflow — without locking you into a closed ecosystem.

Let’s explore what makes Affine stand out, and why it might just be your next go-to productivity tool.

Login & Users

Affine supports account creation and login flows through invitation links.

You can invite team members to collaborate in real time, assigning roles and managing access permissions at the workspace or document level.

AI Features

Affine has begun integrating AI-powered features such as content summaries, text generation, and contextual suggestions — much like Notion's AI assistant. However, at the time of writing, these features are only available on the hosted (cloud) version and not yet bundled in the open-source edition. Still, the team has hinted at plans to offer an extensible AI layer that self-hosters will be able to plug into.

If you want AI in your self-hosted Affine instance, you may keep an eye on their Community Feed.

Workspace Creation & Onboarding

Creating a workspace in Affine is fast and frictionless. The onboarding process guides new users through the core concepts: documents, blocks, folders, and edgeless mode.

Each workspace acts as a container for your projects and can be personalized with themes, tags, and settings. Whether you're organizing your personal journal or setting up a knowledge base for your startup, Affine makes the process intuitive — even for non-technical users.

Notion-Like Editor (Slash Commands + Data Blocks)

One of Affine’s strongest points is its Notion-inspired block-based editor. Typing / opens a contextual command menu, allowing you to quickly insert components like:

• Headings
• Bullet points
• Tables
• Images
• Code blocks
• Callouts
• Data views (Kanban, Tables, Calendar)

The experience feels familiar to Notion users, but lighter and faster, with fewer distractions and more focus on content.

Folders & Tags

Affine offers a flexible way to organize your documents using folders and tags. Folders act as traditional directories, while tags provide an additional layer of classification — perfect for cross-cutting concerns like "Design", "Meeting Notes", or "Urgent".

You can filter documents by tags, browse by folder hierarchy, and even combine both in search. It’s a simple but effective way to keep your workspace tidy.

Journals

The Journal feature gives you a time-based way to capture notes, reflections, or daily logs. Each journal entry is a full-featured Affine document, allowing you to use blocks, images, or even kanban boards in your daily entries.

This is ideal for teams doing daily standups, individuals practicing reflective writing, or anyone who prefers a chronological format to track thoughts over time.

Collections

Collections in Affine function similarly to Notion databases. You can group documents into collections, then apply views (list, grid, kanban, etc.) to visualize and interact with them.

Each document can belong to multiple collections, making it easier to repurpose content across different workflows. Think of it as smart folders meets linked databases — a feature that power users will love.

Data Blocks (Tables, Kanban, Calendar…)

Affine goes beyond plain text by supporting structured data blocks. With just a few clicks, you can add:

• Tables for structured content or simple databases
• Kanban boards for task management
• Calendars to visualize upcoming events or project timelines

These blocks are interactive and can be updated in real-time, giving your documents more power than traditional notes apps.

Realtime Team Collaboration

Like Notion and Google Docs, Affine allows real-time collaboration with team members. You can see live cursors, track changes, and co-edit documents without conflicts. This makes it ideal for brainstorming sessions, meeting notes, or ongoing project documentation.

Under the hood, Affine uses CRDT (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) to ensure changes sync smoothly across users and devices — even during brief offline periods.

Edgeless Mode

Edgeless Mode is one of Affine’s most unique features. It turns your document into an infinite canvas, allowing you to:

• Draw freely with a pen tool
• Add sticky notes, images, or diagrams
• Mix structured blocks with hand-drawn elements
• Create mind maps and non-linear content flows

This hybrid mode makes Affine feel like a blend of Notion and Miro — perfect for brainstorming, sketching workflows, or spatial thinkers who don’t want to be limited to a vertical document.

Desktop App & Chrome Extension

For those who prefer native experiences, Affine provides an Electron-based desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It offers the same features as the web version with offline support and faster performance.

Additionally, there's a Chrome extension that lets you quickly capture webpages, take notes, and save them directly to your workspace — great for researchers, marketers, and students collecting information from the web.

Conclusion

Affine is more than just a Notion alternative — it’s a forward-thinking, open-source productivity platform that bridges structured writing, creative thinking, and collaboration. While still evolving, it already offers a solid foundation for individuals and teams who want full control over their data and workflows.

If you’re looking for a self-hosted, extensible, and innovative Notion alternative, Affine is well worth a try.

Deploy your Affine instance with Elestio.