AFFiNE

Workspace with fully merged docs, whiteboards and databases

4.7•22 reviews•

2.1K followers

Workspace with fully merged docs, whiteboards and databases

4.7•22 reviews•

2.1K followers

Visit website

Note and writing apps

•

Team collaboration software

•

Knowledge base software

An all-in-one workspace where you can write, draw, and plan just about anything. Enable dynamic note-taking, tasks, visualized mindmaps, and presentations.

AFFiNE Reviews

The community submitted 22 reviews to tell us what they like about AFFiNE, what AFFiNE can do better, and more.

4.7

Based on 22 reviews

Review AFFiNE?

Reviewers mostly see AFFiNE as a promising, clean note-taking workspace that stands out for self-hosting, offline-first use, syncing across devices, and the ability to move between document and visual canvas views. People also like its simple interface, collaboration, and broad mix of planning and knowledge tools. The main caveat is maturity: several users mention lag, small bugs, missing basics like stronger search, PDF export, backlinks, tags, plugins, and richer mobile or graph features. One sharply negative review says the AI workflow feels awkward and unreliable.

+19

Summarized with AI

Pros

clean interface (3)

combines docs and whiteboards (3)

offline first (3)

active community (2)

responsive team (2)

self-hosted (2)

Cons

feature disparity with Notion (4)

lag issues (2)

Pros

Cons

Reviews

All Reviews

Most Informative

•2 reviews

I like the design and interface. It operates smoothly. I brainstormed how to create a podcast and it generated insightful tips!

What's great

AI features (1)clean interface (3)

Report

2yr ago

•2 reviews

The conceptual framework and intrinsic design are exemplary; however, achieving a comprehensive solution is a distant goal. Many software products on the market, albeit with less elegance, can perform a multitude of complex functions, such as those offered by Obsidian and SiYuan. Enhancement avenues, in descending order of priority: 1. Multi-tab management akin to browser functionality 2. Incorporate pagination 3. Block-level referencing and backlink identification. 4. Outlink and backlink interface. 5. Elevate search capabilities with highlighting and search-and-replace features. 6. Refine auto-folder with other attribute filtering and content search. 7. Flashcard and review mechanisms like FSRS, potentially diverging from original intent. 8. Publishing features, albeit possibly straying from initial vision.

Report

5 views2yr ago

•1 review

I have tried many Note taking apps but by so far Affine remains the best of them all. Offline first, clean UI and no vendor lock in. It doesn't try to over -complicate things. Here are some things I think need improving and adding: - Exporting to PDF just takes a screenshot of the entire document. There should be an option to export to an actual text based PDF where you can select text..etc -There is currently no find and replace feature in the documents. I think the ability to find all occurences of a word or phrase and replacing is very essential in a document editor -The app practically forces you to have at least a favourite document, other wise there will be a huge jarring space in the favourites space that can only be reduced if you add a favourite

What's great

clean interface (3)offline first (3)

What needs improvement

export limitations (1)no find and replace (1)

Report

8 views2yr ago

Topview.ai

•10 reviews

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Perfect blend of functionality and design.

Report

12 views1yr ago

•1 review

This app is very promising but extremely counterintuitive. If you've ever used Notion and Notion AI, you'll feel like someone has amputated your arm. When you select text and use "Improve with AI," you'll likely get back content that's mostly unrelated to your text and in markdown format. Unlike Notion, which offers an intuitive flow for working with text—allowing you to write several paragraphs, select them, and immediately open an AI field to add instructions—Affine requires a more cumbersome process. In Affine, you need to select the text, switch to the right-side panel, and then return to the text, repeating this process as needed. Affine does have some cool features that Notion lacks. For example, you can select an image within the text and ask AI to explain it. However, you can't select a screenshot from Google Analytics that you’ve put into the text and type in an empty AI field "explain the connection between relative conversion and seasonal factors." Instead, you need to select the image, click "Ask AI," then "Continue with AI," explain in the right-side panel what you need from the AI, and if you get the expected context (which usually you don't), you then need to click below your text block and select "insert below" in the right-side panel. If you use AI again, there's a high probability that you'll receive the text in markdown format. None of these issues are apparent in the first free 10 uses of Affine AI. But you can't pay for Affine AI monthly; you need to pay for a whole year’s subscription. And when you start working, you realize you bought an AI assistant that doesn't actually assist. The text in the app is too tiny and small, causing eye strain, and after 20 minutes of working, you'll want to sleep. Generally speaking, nothing works as your brain expects it to. Affine is not a "second brain". It is a raw, unaligned, and pretty unsatisfying app. You can try writing to the Affine community, and you'll get a polite answer that "there is no scheduling for AI because the team is busy with everything else." What is the point of positioning the product as a replacement for Notion and Miro if Affine is no match for either of them separately? I need Affine only for a particular project I lead. Whatever I need, I write in Notion and then paste it into Affine.

What needs improvement

feature disparity with Notion (4)AI usability issues (1)text size too small (1)

Report

49 views1yr ago

•1 review

特别好用，软件的底层思路很好，功能全面，全面但是还差细节补充。页面有时有些卡，有小bug。

What needs improvement

lag issues (2)

Report

2 views1yr ago

•1 review

Love the self-hosted feature,.!! I can keep all my data secure on my own hardware, and Affine syncs flawlessly to all my devices.!! love this App.

What's great

self-hosted (2)

Report

2 views1yr ago

Soul Tarot

•1 review

Very good product, I love using it

Report

5 views1yr ago

•1 review

Affine is a clean offline first version of Notion. There is feature disparity at the moment, but with the pace of feature rollouts, this is quickly collapsing.

What's great

offline first (3)

What needs improvement

feature disparity with Notion (4)

Report

3 views1yr ago

•6 reviews

I use this webapp, notion and teambition to organize my daily life, the most attractive feature of this app for me is the clear and simple guide, easy-to-use function, and the working together function. This like a combination of all the tools I use before, but it makes all functions simple and easy to co-work, thank so much.

What's great

combines multiple productivity tools (1)

Report

7 views9mo ago

1 2 3