AFFiNE

Workspace with fully merged docs, whiteboards and databases

4.7•22 reviews•

2.2K followers

Workspace with fully merged docs, whiteboards and databases

4.7•22 reviews•

2.2K followers

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Note and writing apps

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Team collaboration software

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Knowledge base software

An all-in-one workspace where you can write, draw, and plan just about anything. Enable dynamic note-taking, tasks, visualized mindmaps, and presentations.

Framer AI AgentsDesign and publish professional sites with AI

Promoted

AFFiNE Launches

AFFiNE AIAI partner to better write, draw & present

Launched on May 7th, 2024

AFFiNEDocs, whiteboards, and databases together in one workspace

Launched on February 26th, 2024

4.7

Based on 22 reviews

Review AFFiNE?

Reviewers largely see AFFiNE as a promising, clean, offline-first workspace that blends note-taking, collaboration, and flexible visual-to-linear editing in a way that feels simpler than juggling several tools. Self-hosting, cross-device sync, open-source roots, and features like web clipping and doc-to-canvas switching stand out. The main caveat is maturity: users repeatedly mention missing basics such as stronger search, backlinks, plugins, export, tags, and mobile parity, along with occasional lag and bugs. One sharply negative review says the AI workflow feels awkward and unreliable.

+19

Summarized with AI

Pros

clean interface (3)

combines docs and whiteboards (3)

offline first (3)

active community (2)

responsive team (2)

self-hosted (2)

Cons

feature disparity with Notion (4)

lag issues (2)

Pros

Cons

Reviews

All Reviews

Most Informative

•2 reviews

For a long time, I was looking for an app to manage my notes. I used Logseq, Obsidian, Simple note, ... but I didn't feel attached to them. Obsidian is great, and it has so many useful plugins but I can't selfhost it and use it everywhere. When I first installed and used Affine, it came to my mind that this is the one I was looking for. I hosted it on my VPS, installed the app on my mobile and mac, it was incredible. The chrome web-clipper plugin is a game changer. I can quickly select whatever on the page and save it to my notes. There is a lot of room for improvement, specially from someone who came from Obsidian and tweaked every piece of it (even icons), but I like it and I'm waiting for plugins to make it better.

What's great

self-hosted (2)chrome web-clipper plugin (1)

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167 views1yr ago

•2 reviews

Excited about the intuitive features, such as the instant doc-to-edgeless and edgeless-to-doc on the click of a button. Thusly allows spatial to linear doc views and vice versa, instantly. Like having a desk with all your materials and then instant clearing of desk, but incorporating what you want of what is on the desk to appear in the linear doc. Intuitive and frictionless. I just started using AFFiNE but am excited about it. I already know this is something that I will use even though I have barely gotten a handle on it. I am attracted by what has been presented, instead of overwhelmed. I feel the pull of it, as I have with other apps I supported early on, and only later came to fully appreciate and understand how to derive benefit and pleasure. AFFiNE, I already know, is one of those types of apps for me.

What's great

flexible (1)combines docs and whiteboards (3)

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119 views1yr ago

•1 review

This app is very promising but extremely counterintuitive. If you've ever used Notion and Notion AI, you'll feel like someone has amputated your arm. When you select text and use "Improve with AI," you'll likely get back content that's mostly unrelated to your text and in markdown format. Unlike Notion, which offers an intuitive flow for working with text—allowing you to write several paragraphs, select them, and immediately open an AI field to add instructions—Affine requires a more cumbersome process. In Affine, you need to select the text, switch to the right-side panel, and then return to the text, repeating this process as needed. Affine does have some cool features that Notion lacks. For example, you can select an image within the text and ask AI to explain it. However, you can't select a screenshot from Google Analytics that you’ve put into the text and type in an empty AI field "explain the connection between relative conversion and seasonal factors." Instead, you need to select the image, click "Ask AI," then "Continue with AI," explain in the right-side panel what you need from the AI, and if you get the expected context (which usually you don't), you then need to click below your text block and select "insert below" in the right-side panel. If you use AI again, there's a high probability that you'll receive the text in markdown format. None of these issues are apparent in the first free 10 uses of Affine AI. But you can't pay for Affine AI monthly; you need to pay for a whole year’s subscription. And when you start working, you realize you bought an AI assistant that doesn't actually assist. The text in the app is too tiny and small, causing eye strain, and after 20 minutes of working, you'll want to sleep. Generally speaking, nothing works as your brain expects it to. Affine is not a "second brain". It is a raw, unaligned, and pretty unsatisfying app. You can try writing to the Affine community, and you'll get a polite answer that "there is no scheduling for AI because the team is busy with everything else." What is the point of positioning the product as a replacement for Notion and Miro if Affine is no match for either of them separately? I need Affine only for a particular project I lead. Whatever I need, I write in Notion and then paste it into Affine.

What needs improvement

feature disparity with Notion (4)AI usability issues (1)text size too small (1)

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99 views2yr ago

•2 reviews

What's great

self-hosted (2)chrome web-clipper plugin (1)

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167 views1yr ago

•2 reviews

What's great

flexible (1)combines docs and whiteboards (3)

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119 views1yr ago

•1 review

What needs improvement

feature disparity with Notion (4)AI usability issues (1)text size too small (1)

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99 views2yr ago