AFFiNE vs Joplin
| Tagline | Privacy-first, local-first workspace combining docs, whiteboards, and databases | Open-source note-taking app with end-to-end encrypted sync |
| Category | Notes & Knowledge Base | Notes & Knowledge Base |
| Replaces | Notion, Confluence, Obsidian | Evernote, Obsidian |
| GitHub stars | 71k | 56k |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 3/5 Moderate | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Docker Compose | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 3 days ago | 4 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
AFFiNE
- Self-hosted real-time sync (AFFiNE Cloud) has historically lagged the desktop/local experience and can be fiddly to configure.
- Smaller third-party integration and plugin ecosystem than Notion.
- Mobile apps are less mature than the desktop client.
- Some advanced AI and collaboration features are gated to the paid cloud tier.
Joplin
- The note editor is more basic than Notion-style block editors.
- No real-time collaborative editing; sync is eventual.
- No relational database or board views.
- Self-hosted Joplin Server setup and multi-user management is less polished than the apps.
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose AFFiNE for the larger community and ecosystem. AFFiNE has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
AFFiNE
Privacy-first, local-first workspace combining docs, whiteboards, and databases