Craft alternatives: 7 open-source picks
Craft costs $10/mo — $120 a year. These 7 alternatives replace it for $0, led by AppFlowy, AFFiNE and Joplin. All 7 are open source. License, stars and last commit checked by hand on 2026-08-29. No trials, no crippled tiers.
A portable document workspace that trades Craft's sheen for local control.
licenseAGPL-3.0
runsyour machine or their cloud
installInstall a native desktop/mobile app or use AppFlowy Web/Cloud; self-hosting deploys the AppFlowy Cloud Docker stack and points the clients at it
enginesHosted plans expose managed models such as GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and Claude 3.7 Sonnet; local/on-prem use can connect Ollama, LM Studio, or another self-hosted LLM
dataOffline work remains in the device's local AppFlowy store; AppFlowy Cloud syncs it to AppFlowy's service, while the self-hosted stack persists workspace/auth data in PostgreSQL, cache/queues in Redis, and uploads in MinIO or another S3-compatible object store
the catch vs CraftIt provides local control and structured documents, but Craft's visual layouts, presentation quality, publishing, and collaboration remain more polished.
setupLocal offline use installs cleanly, but self-hosted sync is a multi-container deployment with PostgreSQL, Redis, GoTrue authentication, object storage, mail/auth secrets, migrations, and client URL configuration
facts verified 2026-08-14
Docs, whiteboards, and databases fused into one local-first workspace
licenseMIT (open core)
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
Markdown note-taking app with E2E-encrypted sync across all platforms
licenseAGPL-3.0
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
Privacy-first block-based personal knowledge management with bidirectional links
licenseAGPL-3.0
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
Local-first outliner for networked thought with backlinks and daily journals
licenseAGPL-3.0
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
Fast, collaborative team wiki and knowledge base with slick editor
licenseBSL-1.1
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
End-to-end encrypted note-taking with sync — open-source Evernote done right.
licenseGPL-3.0
runsyour server
setupnot verified by us yet — check the repo README
facts verified 2026-08-29
What each one is, in full: AppFlowy · AFFiNE · Joplin · SiYuan · Logseq · Outline
last updated 2026-08-29 · no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
how to choose a Craft alternative
Easiest to get running
AppFlowy — a one-click install, no server to maintain.
Most proven
AppFlowy, with 74,999 GitHub stars — the largest community of the 7, which usually means more answers when something breaks.
Works on your phone
AppFlowy has a mobile app on iOS and Android.
what you give up by leaving Craft
- native apps, sync, publishing, collaboration, and strong block-editor polish
- frictionless mobile capture
- real-time team editing
- hosted publishing
- proprietary AI memory
None of the picks above covers all of it. The full verdict says which gaps matter.
Craft alternatives at a glance
| tool | license | running it | platforms | stars | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AppFlowy | AGPL-3.0 | one-click install | web, macos, windows, linux, ios, android, self-hosted | 74,999 | 2026-07 |
| AFFiNE | MIT (open core) | docker to self-host | self-hosted, web | 71,000 | 2026-08 |
| Joplin | AGPL-3.0 | one-click install | self-hosted, web | 56,000 | 2026-08 |
| SiYuan | AGPL-3.0 | one-click install | self-hosted, web | 46,000 | 2026-08 |
| Logseq | AGPL-3.0 | one-click install | self-hosted, web | 44,000 | 2026-08 |
| Outline | BSL-1.1 | docker to self-host | self-hosted, web | 40,000 | 2026-08 |
| Notesnook | GPL-3.0 | docker to self-host | self-hosted, web | 12,000 | 2026-08 |
why people still pay for Craft
People still pay for Craft because people keep paying when the note system is trusted across every device and disappears into their daily capture habits. The recurring cost buys file watching, conflict handling, indexing, mobile apps, encryption, backups, and migrations, not just the visible interface. If none of that applies to you, any pick above saves $120 a year.
questions about switching from Craft
Is there an open-source alternative to Craft?
Yes: AppFlowy, AFFiNE, Joplin and 4 more. Every tool on this page is open source: no trials, no crippled tiers.
Can open source really replace Craft?
Our verdict is YES. AppFlowy (75k stars), AFFiNE (71k stars), Joplin (56k stars) are mature open-source replacements for Craft — self-host in one command and stop paying $10/mo. The full verdict, and what you give up by switching, is at caniopensourceit.online/craft.
What is the easiest open-source Craft alternative to set up?
AppFlowy — a one-click install, no server to maintain.
What is the most popular open-source Craft alternative?
By GitHub stars, AppFlowy (74,999). AFFiNE is next with 71,000.
