AppFlowy

AppFlowy is an open-source workspace that brings wiki and project work together, with AI tools and several deployment choices. It is best suited to people or teams who want control over where their workspace runs; its free tier is tightly capped for collaboration.

Overview

AppFlowy combines shared knowledge and project work with real-time editing, comments, guest access, and offline access. AI search, writing, chat, research, and meeting notes extend that workspace, while integrations include Slack, Google Calendar, Google Drive, GitHub, Jira, and others. The breadth is appealing, but the Free plan's two-member ceiling makes it a limited starting point for a team.

Key features

Projects, wikis, and collaboration

Unlimited pages and blocks on Free leave room to build out a knowledge base, but that plan permits only one collaborative workspace, two members, and 5 GB of storage. That works for an individual with one collaborator, not a growing group. Pro raises the member limit to 50 and adds up to 100 guest editors.

AI tools and deployment

AppFlowy AI can brainstorm drafts, summarize or expand content, autofill columns, and answer questions. The Free plan's 10 AI responses and two AI images are modest allowances; paid plans expand or remove some of those caps. Vault Workspace is distinctive for local AI on a user's own hardware, while self-hosted deployments can use self-hosted language and embedding models.

Organizations can run AppFlowy on their own infrastructure, in the cloud, or in an air-gapped environment. For self-hosted instances, customers control data storage and processing, and the vendor says it has no access to the instance. Built-in identity and access management, granular permissions, admin controls, and fine-grained AI access controls suit environments with tighter governance needs. SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO/IEC 27001 badges are displayed.

Connections

Connections include Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Airtable, ChatGPT, Claude, Zapier, Loom, and Salesforce, alongside Slack, Google Calendar, GitHub, Google Drive, and Jira. SAML and OIDC SSO, SCIM, LDAP, MCP, and public APIs provide further options for fitting into an existing stack.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing, billed forever. It includes one collaborative workspace for up to two members, unlimited pages and blocks, 5 GB of storage, 10 AI responses, and two AI images. It is a useful way to start, but the member and storage caps can make it unsuitable for teams.

Vault Workspace costs $6 a month per user, billed annually. It includes local AI on the user's hardware, unlimited AI responses, and unlimited file size for AI Chat. Choose it when local AI is the priority; the plan's stated inclusions do not offer Pro's published workspace and guest-editor limits.

AppFlowy AI MAX costs $8 a month per user, billed monthly. It gives unlimited AI responses and file uploads, plus 50 AI images per month. The monthly billing and larger AI allowances suit users focused on AI without an annual commitment.

Pro costs $10 a month per user, billed annually. It includes unlimited storage, up to 50 workspace members, up to 100 guest editors, unlimited AI responses and file uploads, and 50 AI images per month. Its higher collaboration ceiling makes it the clearest fit for small teams, though the annual billing is less flexible than AI MAX's monthly term. The published paid-from price is 12.5 /user/mo.

Platforms

AppFlowy supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, web, API, and self-hosted deployments. That spread makes it a plausible choice for teams spanning desktop and mobile systems or needing to run software on their own infrastructure.

Who it's for

AppFlowy fits individuals and small teams that want project and wiki work in one workspace, especially when AI, self-hosting, or control over data location matters. It is less compelling for a team that needs more than two collaborators without moving to a paid plan, or for anyone seeking a free shared workspace beyond the single-workspace and 5 GB limits.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Self-hosting can extend to air-gapped environments, with customer control over data storage and processing.
• Pros: AI spans drafting, summarizing, autofill, and question answering, with paid options for unlimited responses.
• Pros: Pro supports up to 50 members and 100 guest editors, alongside unlimited storage.
• Cons: Free collaboration is limited to two members and one workspace, restricting its usefulness for a team.
• Cons: Pro is billed annually, while AI MAX is monthly, so the plan with larger team allowances has the less flexible term.

Alternatives

Lark is worth considering when a larger free team allowance matters: its Starter plan includes 20 users and 100 GB of storage, as well as 18 months of message history and 1,000 monthly automations.

Nuclino offers a free plan with up to 50 items, three canvases, and 2 GB of storage, plus a free trial. It may suit someone willing to work within those smaller content and storage allowances.

WPS Docs has a free plan with 1 GB of cloud space, limited template downloads, basic PDF features, and support for 47 file formats.

Collabora Online offers a free on-premise Development Edition with rolling updates for testing and home use; consider it for those uses.

ContactOffice has a free plan with a 500 MB mailbox, 500 MB of documents, 200 address book entries, and no monthly SMS allowance. Its Light plan costs €5 a month, billed 6 months.

Craft provides a free plan with 1,500 blocks, 1 GB storage, a 25 MB media upload limit, seven days of version history, and 15 AI assistant credits.

ONLYOFFICE Docs offers a free Community edition for up to 20 recommended users under GNU AGPL v.3, with community support.

Zoho Writer has a free individual edition that includes Writer features and 200 document automation credits per month per organization.

For a broader set of options, browse Collaborative Document Software.

Verdict

Choose AppFlowy if you want a combined wiki and project workspace with integrated AI and the option to control deployment and data location. Its strongest case is for privacy-conscious individuals or teams willing to pay for more room to collaborate; look elsewhere if a free plan must support a larger group.