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Notion alternatives in 2026

Write team docs and a shared wiki, and turn a draft into a decision everyone can find later. Compare the options below by their fit, pricing and tradeoffs, then check which Notion features AFFiNE covers before switching.

Side by side

Notion alternatives compared

ToolTypeBest forPricingTradeoff
AFFiNE on Borg App Hub Open source Write team docs and a shared wiki, and turn a draft into a decision everyone can find later. No per-seat cost; pay for AI + compute Runs inside your Borg workspace.
Coda SaaS teams that want docs, spreadsheets, and automation in one doc Free tier; paid plans priced per doc maker, not per viewer Pricing by doc maker can get confusing for larger teams
Obsidian SaaS individuals who want local-first, private notes Free for personal use; paid sync and publish add-ons Built for personal notes, not a team wiki with permissions
AppFlowy Open source teams wanting a self-hosted, Notion-style workspace Free, self-hosted; hosted AppFlowy Cloud has a free tier Smaller template and integration ecosystem than Notion
Anytype Open source local-first, end-to-end encrypted personal knowledge bases Free; paid tiers add hosted sync and storage Less suited to large, permissioned team wikis
Confluence SaaS teams already using Jira and the Atlassian ecosystem Free for up to 10 users; paid pricing varies by team size and billing. See the vendor pricing calculator.

Checked 2026-10-07. Vendor source

 Editor feels dated next to Notion's, and value is strongest inside Atlassian
ClickUp SaaS teams that want docs bundled with task management Free tier; Unlimited $7/user/month billed annually ($10 with monthly billing).

Checked 2026-10-07. Vendor source

 Docs are secondary to ClickUp's project-management core

The push

Why teams leave Notion

  • Full AI features are now bundled only into Business and Enterprise, not Free or Plus

  • Free plan's 5 MB file cap and 7-day history push teams to upgrade quickly

  • Per-seat price scales with every hire, even for people who mostly read docs

  • Large, deeply nested workspaces can get slow to navigate and search

  • No self-hosting option, so the workspace always lives on Notion's servers

Before switching

Check the coverage you need

Review the feature details for AFFiNE before moving your workflow from Notion.

  • Templates

    Partly covered

    Built-in gallery is smaller than Notion's community template library.

  • Collaboration & comments

    Partly covered

    Real-time editing and comments work; some polish gaps vs. Notion.

  • AI assistant

    Planned

    AFFiNE AI is rolling out; self-hosted parity isn't complete yet.

  • Sharing & permissions

    Partly covered

    Shared links work; per-page permission granularity is more limited.

See the full feature coverage for AFFiNE.

Borg App Hub

AFFiNE, without the seat tax

Write team docs and a shared wiki, and turn a draft into a decision everyone can find later. The Borg App Hub runs AFFiNE with no per-seat cost and no usage caps. You pay only for the AI and compute you use, inside a workspace you control.

Start free See AFFiNE on Borg

Early access for Search Atlas Mastermind and Enterprise.

Questions

Notion alternatives, answered

Is AFFiNE really free?

Yes. AFFiNE's community edition is open source under MIT and AGPL-3.0, and you can self-host it at no license cost.

Does AFFiNE replace Notion's AI assistant?

Partly. AFFiNE AI exists but is still being built out, so it doesn't yet match Notion's full AI feature set, especially on a self-hosted install.

Can I self-host AFFiNE instead of using a cloud version?

Yes, that's the main appeal: you run the server yourself instead of paying a per-seat SaaS fee.

Does AFFiNE support databases like Notion does?

Yes, it has table and kanban-style database views built from the same page blocks, with calendar and timeline views still maturing.

What license is AFFiNE under?

The community edition uses a mix of MIT and AGPL-3.0, which keeps the self-hosted version free and requires derivative network services to stay open.

Can I move my data out of AFFiNE later?

Yes, since it's open source and self-hosted, your data stays in your own database rather than locked inside a vendor's cloud.

Ready to look closer? See AFFiNE on the Borg App Hub.

Notion pricing checked 2026-10-07. Pricing source