AFFiNE vs Pad

Comparing two open source alternatives to Notion. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

AFFiNE

Open-source knowledge base combining note-taking, whiteboard, and project planning in one workspace.

Pad

Apache-2.0

Local-first project management for developers and AI agents, with a CLI, web UI, SQLite backend, and native skills for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and more.

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Side-by-side comparison

	AFFiNE	Pad
License	—	Apache-2.0
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	74,466	207
Forks	5,516	26
Open Issues	829	11
Last Commit	Nov 11, 2026	Nov 11, 2026
First Released	Jul 31, 2022	Mar 26, 2026
Categories	Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools Knowledge Management Tools	Project Management
Tags	#knowledge-management #markdown #collaboration #whiteboard #self hosted	#local-first #cli #ai-agents #agent-tools #mcp-server

GitHub stars over time

AFFiNE74,466

Pad

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