I don’t regret switching from Notion to Obsidian. Local storage, markdown support, and powerful file organization—it fixed everything that frustrated me about Notion. But no app is perfect, and when I stumbled upon AppFlowy, I was curious enough to give it a real shot.

AppFlowy aims to combine Obsidian’s local-first philosophy with Notion’s databases and collaboration features. After testing it for two weeks, I can say it comes damn close. It’s the first app that genuinely made me reconsider my setup—even if I ultimately stuck with Obsidian.

AppFlowy

OS Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Developer AppFlowy

AppFlowy is an open-source AI-powered workspace for tasks, notes, docs, and projects, offering offline support, privacy, self-hosting, collaboration, Kanban boards, and fast native performance across devices.

A familiar interface, but less intimidating

Block-based editing and nested pages

If you’ve spent any time using Notion, AppFlowy’s interface will feel familiar. It offers the same block-based editing where every element (text, tables, images) becomes a movable piece. Pages nest inside each other just like Notion’s hierarchical structure. You can turn any text into a toggle list, embed databases anywhere, and drag blocks around to reorganize your thoughts.

But AppFlowy strips away the complexity that makes Notion overwhelming. It doesn’t drown you in database formulas or property types. The database views are there (tables, Kanban boards, calendars), but they’re more intuitive.

Where Obsidian takes the opposite approach with its plain-text interface, AppFlowy offers structure without the steep learning curve. You can create project trackers in no time, and building a knowledge base doesn’t turn into its own project.

Local-first approach

Markdown support with an option to save data locally or in the cloud

Notion stores everything in the cloud. Your notes live on their servers, which means seamless syncing but also complete dependence on internet access and their infrastructure. While Notion recently added offline mode, you have to manually download each page you want to access offline. That’s not practical for a large workspace.

Obsidian, on the other hand, stores everything locally in markdown files. AppFlowy also follows this philosophy. All your notes, databases, and pages live on your device first. The files are stored in markdown format, which means you can open them in any text editor, move them between apps, or keep them forever without worrying about a service shutting down.

Unfortunately, AppFlowy doesn’t have a dedicated import feature for Obsidian. Which means you’ll need to manually copy your markdown files directly into AppFlowy workspace with the formatting, links, and structure remaining intact.

The sync situation differs from both competitors, though. You can sync Obsidian notes for free using Google Drive, Dropbox, or Obsidian’s paid sync service. AppFlowy offers its own cloud sync with 5GB free storage. If you need more, you’ll have to pay for a premium plan. The catch is you can’t use third-party sync services because of how AppFlowy structures its database, even though the underlying files are stored in markdown format.

Better collaboration features

Built-in real-time collaboration, collaboration mode

Notion built its reputation on collaboration. Teams can work together in real-time, leave comments, assign tasks, and manage permissions down to individual pages. It’s why entire companies run their operations through Notion workspaces.

Obsidian wasn’t built for collaboration. Sure, you can share files through Git or use plugins like Peerdraft for real-time editing, but it requires technical setup. Most people using Obsidian work solo, and that’s by design.

AppFlowy lands somewhere between them. You get real-time collaboration out of the box. Multiple people can edit the same document simultaneously with live cursor tracking. You can share workspaces, invite guest editors, and control permissions at the page level. The collaboration feels smooth, closer to Notion than anything you’ll get with Obsidian plugins.

But it’s not as mature as Notion’s system. You won’t find inline comments, page analytics, or granular permission controls. For personal projects or small teams, AppFlowy’s collaboration works well. For larger organizations that rely on Notion’s advanced team features, it’s not quite there yet.

AppFlowy still has some catching up to do

Unreliable mobile app, not so great plugin ecosystem, and integration

The biggest gap in AppFlowy right now is the mobile app. In comparison, Obsidian’s mobile app feels flawless—well, except for the lack of PDF export, though I rarely need that anyway.

AppFlowy recently made its mobile app available on Android and iOS. But the app is slow to sync between devices, and I often need to close and reopen it to get syncing to work. It’s also buggy with longer notes, where text can end up scattered all over the place. For someone who captures ideas on the go, this can be a dealbreaker.

The plugin ecosystem is another weak spot. AppFlowy has a better built-in feature set than Obsidian, but Obsidian’s community has created hundreds of plugins that let you personalize the app to fit your exact workflow. AppFlowy has plugins, but the selection is limited. You won’t find advanced tools like Dataview for database queries or Templater for complex templates.

Sometimes blocks don’t move smoothly, the search isn’t as powerful as Obsidian’s, and export options are limited compared to both competitors. These may not be dealbreakers on their own, but they add friction to daily use.

For now, I’m sticking with Obsidian. The mobile app, plugin ecosystem, and stability matter more to me than built-in collaboration or a familiar Notion-like interface.

Why you should try AppFlowy

Despite its limitations, AppFlowy is a solid alternative to Notion and Obsidian. It offers Notion’s intuitive interface without the overwhelming complexity, combined with Obsidian’s local-first approach and better collaboration features. Unlike Notion, it’s completely open-source. You can self-host it, modify the code, or trust that your data won’t disappear behind a paywall.

For someone starting fresh who wants more than basic notes but less than Notion’s everything-app approach, AppFlowy hits the sweet spot. Give it a year or two to mature, improve the mobile experience, and expand its plugin ecosystem, and it might become the note-taking app that makes both Notion and Obsidian loyalists reconsider their choice.