Notion vs AFFiNE (mixed-license stack; review required)
Fit: Fit: Different approachSolves the same job differently; plan a redesign, not a copy.Fit is not feature parity.
Migration notes
Docs and canvas approach; local MIT editor is useful, but full self-hosted collaboration has mixed licensing and seat/plan questions. Pilot database parity and export/import round trips.
Paid Plus exists; page auto-selected EUR 9.50/member/month and billing state was ambiguous. USD entry intentionally unverified; free SaaS tier is not OSS. Source
Fit for NotionFit: Different approachSolves the same job differently; plan a redesign, not a copy.Fit is not feature parity.
LicenseMIT LicenseA short and simple permissive license with conditions only requiring preservation of copyright and license notices. Licensed works, modifications, and larger works may be distributed under different terms and without source code.MayCommercial useModificationDistributionPrivate useMustLicense and copyright noticeNoLiabilityWarrantySummary from GitHub's choosealicense.comMozilla Public License 2.0Permissions of this weak copyleft license are conditioned on making available source code of licensed files and modifications of those files under the same license (or in certain cases, one of the GNU licenses). Copyright and license notices must be preserved. Contributors provide an express grant of patent rights. However, a larger work using the licensed work may be distributed under different terms and without source code for files added in the larger work.MayCommercial useModificationDistributionPatent usePrivate useMustDisclose sourceLicense and copyright noticeSame license (file)NoLiabilityTrademark useWarrantySummary from GitHub's choosealicense.comAFFiNE EE (custom license)Not a standard license, so GitHub's license summaries don't cover it. Read the project's license text before relying on it.
Paid-feature tierUTier ULicense or parity scope unresolved
Self-hostSelf-hostable: yesYou can run it on your own server.
Official enterprise page says self-hosted Team required for more than 10 seats; multiple admin roles and priority support in Team.
Non-CE backend/native code has commercial EE production and redistribution restrictions.
Tier U: MIT covers code outside backend/native. Backend EE license explicitly exempts CE-distributed and specified client-side portions under MPL-2.0. Official marketing calls backend source-available, while blogs acknowledge MPL CE carveout. Full current CE boundary not independently reconstructed: do not present full stack as verified OSI OSS. MIT local editor is clearly OSS. License source
What running it takes
Application and migration job plus persistent storage/config volumes
Hover or focus an icon for its name. Dashed means not established; struck through means no; grouped icons are alternatives.
Local-first editor usable independently; server uses PostgreSQL/Redis in stable-image compose. Backend source-available/component-specific licenses; check release CE/EE boundaries. Canary-branch compose read deploys stable images. Infrastructure and staff time are not priced here; this page does not compare total cost.
