AFFiNE

AFFiNE is an open-source workspace that fuses docs, whiteboards, and multi-view databases into a single local-first app — the project describes itself as a Notion + Miro alternative. The editor is built on the open-source BlockSuite block framework and a large part of the engine is written in Rust, with cross-platform clients via Electron. Any block type — text, sticky notes, embedded pages, databases, shapes, slides — can live on the same edgeless canvas.

Yes. The project publishes self-host instructions and the codebase is mirrored on GitHub with around 70K+ stars. The repository's license field is listed as Other on GitHub, so the full terms live in the LICENSE file and should be reviewed before any commercial redistribution. Self-hosting for personal or internal use is a documented, supported use case.

AFFiNE stores your workspace on your own disk by default, and the cloud sync is optional rather than mandatory. Real-time collaboration runs over a CRDT-based sync layer across the web and cross-platform clients, so you can keep working offline and changes merge when peers reconnect. You can also self-host the sync server to keep your data inside your own infrastructure instead of the hosted cloud.

Yes — AFFiNE AI is a built-in multimodal assistant that can draft reports, turn outlines into slides, summarize articles into mind maps, and generate code prototypes from a single prompt. Its output lands on the same edgeless canvas as regular blocks, so you can keep editing the AI result like any other content. The hosted cloud offers AI credits, and self-hosted instances can point the assistant at your own model endpoint.