The alternatives
AFFiNE
There can be more than Notion and Miro. AFFiNE(pronounced [ə‘fain]) is a next-gen knowledge base that brings planning, sorting and creating all together. Privacy first, open-source, customizable and ready to use.
toeverything/AFFiNE Updated 2026-05-06 siyuan
A privacy-first, self-hosted, fully open source personal knowledge management software, written in typescript and golang.
siyuan-note/siyuan Updated 2026-05-05 logseq
A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration. Download link: http://github.com/logseq/logseq/releases. roadmap: https://logseq.io/p/NX4mc_ggEV
logseq/logseq Updated 2026-05-06 outline
The fastest knowledge base for growing teams. Beautiful, realtime collaborative, feature packed, and markdown compatible.
outline/outline Updated 2026-05-06 Trilium
Build your personal knowledge base with Trilium Notes
zadam/trilium Updated 2026-05-05 notesnook
A fully open source & end-to-end encrypted note taking alternative to Evernote.
streetwriters/notesnook Updated 2026-05-06 Notes
Build your personal knowledge base with TriliumNext Notes
TriliumNext/Notes Updated 2025-06-24 Comparison notes
AFFiNE (NOASSERTION license) is the most Notion-like OSS alternative with block-based editing and whiteboard support. Obsidian (source-available) targets the knowledge management aspect with local-first storage and a massive plugin ecosystem. Siyuan and Logseq cover block-based note-taking with self-hosting and local storage. Outline covers the team wiki use case well with Notion-like editor and collaborative editing. The main gap: Notion's database-document fusion (where a database row IS a page) has no single OSS equivalent. AFFiNE is closest in ambition but lags in stability and feature completion. Notion AI (inline writing assistant) has no OSS equivalent.
Migration tips
- Export Notion content as Markdown + CSV (Settings → Export → Export all workspace content) — databases export as CSV, pages as Markdown
- Use notion-to-obsidian or notion-to-outline community converters to improve import quality
- Database relations (linked pages between databases) do not export cleanly — document them and recreate manually
- Recreate Notion's rollup and formula properties in your target tool's equivalent — they will not import automatically
- Migrate team members in cohorts and run both Notion and the new tool in parallel for at least 2 weeks to catch workflow gaps
FAQ
Can I fully replace Notion with an OSS tool?
Feature parity varies. Most OSS alternatives cover 70-90% of core workflows, but may lack polish, integrations, or specialized features. Pilot the alternative with a subset of your team before fully committing.
What's the cost of self-hosting?
Plan for ~$5-50/month in VPS costs (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, etc.) plus 2-8 hours/month in maintenance. For a team of 20+, self-hosting usually breaks even against SaaS pricing within 6-12 months.
Which alternative should I pick?
Sort by GitHub stars (a proxy for community health), check the last-pushed date (avoid unmaintained projects), and read recent issues to gauge responsiveness.