Appflowy: Free Open Source Collaborative Workspace
In a world increasingly dominated by proprietary tools like Notion, finding a privacy-first, open-source alternative that doesn’t compromise on features can be a challenge.
Appflowy is changing that. It’s a free, open-source collaborative workspace designed for teams and individuals to manage tasks, wikis, projects, and more—all while maintaining full control over their data. Whether you're self-hosting or using it on your desktop, Appflowy brings a familiar yet refreshingly open experience, now with built-in AI capabilities.
Watch our platform overview of Appflowy on YouTubeA
Desktop Client
Appflowy currently offers a desktop client for Windows, macOS, and Linux, giving users a native and responsive experience without needing a web browser. The UI feels snappy and intuitive, closely resembling Notion in terms of layout and component behavior.
This native approach ensures better performance and a more fluid offline experience, which is especially handy for users who want reliability without relying on constant internet access.
Onboarding
Once you create your first workspace in Appflowy, you’re welcomed with a set of default pages that walk you through the basics of the platform.
This acts as an informal onboarding experience—guiding you through creating tasks, using components, and organizing content. While there’s no flashy guided tutorial (yet), this minimal setup is a great touch for users jumping in for the first time.
Pages & Components
Much like Notion, Appflowy uses a block-based editing system. You can create pages and embed components like:
- Text blocks
- Headings
- To-do lists
- Tables
- Kanban boards
- Checklists
Each page can be deeply customized, and nested structures make it easy to build complex wikis or task databases. The interface is clean, markdown-friendly, and perfect for both solo and team-based workflows.
Templates
While Appflowy doesn’t currently support in-app template importing, the official website provides a collection of templates to explore.
These templates serve as inspiration for building your own setups in the self-hosted or desktop version. Think of it as a design reference: you can recreate popular layouts for CRM boards, personal dashboards, meeting notes, or product roadmaps by manually duplicating the structure shown online.
Search & Workspaces
Appflowy supports multiple workspaces, each operating like a separate container for projects or teams. Switching between them is seamless, allowing you to keep different areas of your life or business organized.
The search functionality is simple but effective—helping you quickly locate specific pages or content across a workspace.
As the platform evolves, we can expect even more enhancements in workspace and content management, especially for teams handling large volumes of information.
AI Features
Appflowy has recently added AI features that make content creation and productivity even smoother:
- Chat with AI: A conversational assistant that can help you brainstorm ideas, summarize content, or answer queries directly within your workspace.
- Text Completion: Select any paragraph and let the AI expand or rephrase it, which is perfect for writing documentation, blog posts, or project updates.
These features are still evolving, but they already bring valuable assistance for content-heavy workflows—making Appflowy not just a Notion alternative, but a smart one too.
Conclusion
Appflowy is an exciting project for anyone looking for a self-hosted, open-source alternative to Notion. It provides a collaborative workspace to manage everything from simple tasks to complex project documentation, with growing support for AI and community-driven development. While it’s still catching up to some of Notion’s advanced features, its privacy-first approach, native client, and strong foundation make it a compelling tool—especially for those who value openness, customization, and control.