Mahfouz vs AppFlowy
Mahfouz vs AppFlowy
AppFlowy is open source like Mahfouz, but it's still a workspace you have to run — AppFlowy Cloud, or a self-hosted server you deploy and maintain yourself. Mahfouz needs no hosting at all: your vault is just files on disk, optionally backed by any Git remote you already have, or none.
Feature comparison
| Compare | AppFlowy | Mahfouz |
|---|---|---|
| File format & ownership | Open source, but notes live in an app-managed local database — not flat Markdown files you can browse or edit elsewhere. | Plain .md files in a folder you choose — open, edit, or grep them with any tool. |
| Where it runs | AppFlowy Cloud, or a self-hosted server you deploy and run yourself (Docker, Postgres). Either way, something has to be hosted. | Nowhere. Not a Mahfouz cloud, not a self-hosted server — nothing to deploy, ever. "Hosting" is only whatever Git remote you already use, if any. |
| Version history | Handled by AppFlowy's own sync layer; history is tied to whichever server — cloud or self-hosted — is running it. | Full history in a real Git repo, kept as long as you keep it, independent of any server. |
| Offline use | The desktop app works locally, but real-time sync and collaboration need AppFlowy Cloud or a self-hosted server to be running. | Fully local-first, always — there's no server to reach even when you want to collaborate. |
| Real-time collaboration | Available, but requires AppFlowy Cloud or your own self-hosted deployment to be online. | Git-based: share a vault the way you'd share any repo, and everyone works from their own full copy. |
| Price | Free tier limited to 2 members and 5 GB; cloud Pro runs about $10–12.50/user/month. Self-hosting is free of license fees, but you cover your own server. | Free and MIT-licensed, forever. One download, no seats, no server bill. |
| Data export / lock-in | Open source lowers the risk, but you're still exporting from an app-managed database rather than working with files directly. | Nothing to export — your notes were never anything but files. |
AppFlowy pricing and plan details shown as published on appflowy.com; check their pricing page for current figures.
Questions
AppFlowy, answered.
AppFlowy is also open source — what's actually different?
Being open source doesn't remove the need to run something. AppFlowy still needs AppFlowy Cloud or a self-hosted server (Docker, Postgres) to sync and collaborate. Mahfouz needs no server at all, self-hosted or otherwise — it's just files and Git.
If I self-host AppFlowy, is that the same as Mahfouz's local-first model?
No — self-hosting AppFlowy still means standing up, updating, and paying for a server you're responsible for. Mahfouz has nothing to host, on your infrastructure or anyone else's; your vault is just a folder that happens to be a Git repo.
Does Mahfouz support real-time collaboration like AppFlowy?
Not in the live, multiplayer sense. Collaboration works the way Git collaboration always has: everyone has a full copy, and changes merge through commits — no server has to stay online for it to work.
See the rest of what Mahfouz can do.
Vaults, Markdown editing, Git sync, history, and more.