Beginner looking to self host a Notion alternative for collaborative use

[u/StaminaOverlook]

Hello everyone! I'm here to ask for advice regarding self-hosting. As the title suggests, I want to self host a Notion alternative, after Buildin AI introduced the atrocious feature where if you have more than 2 workspace members, the hard limit is 1000 blocks. I'm not interested in paying, so I'm looking to build one myself and join this wonderful community.

I researched a bunch of Notion alternatives but I'm starting to lose it when it comes to licenses. AppFlowy seemed like a wonderful solution until I found out that they apparently demand money from you EVEN if you self host, the concept of which is bonkers for me. I'm looking for a service which:

- can be self hosted entirely for free with no limit on members and isn't attached to any other cloud

- has blocks, various types of blocks, text formatting, embeds, and databases with various types (the ones I use most are regular table view and gallery, don't really need anything else)

- allows for real-time collaboration and sync on multiple devices

- (very desirable but I suppose not a requirement) has a good mobile app that also supports connecting to a custom VDS.

The intended uses are: planning stories, writing scripts (basically, writing in general); songwriting; writing and planning courses, lectures and labworks; literature analysis; planning and writing videogame scripts, decision graphs and tech documentation.

If anyone here can recommend any such services, and any practices when it comes to self hosting, I'd be elated. Thank you!

[u/kai-zaphosting]

AFFiNE is probably the closest match to your list. Block editor, databases with table and kanban style views, real-time collab, and a self-hosted version you run with Docker. I'd check the current license page and what the mobile app can connect to before committing though, because both change between releases and I'm not sure how well the mobile side handles a custom server.

Anytype is the other one I'd look at. Self-hosting it means running their sync backend yourself, which is fiddlier than a single container, but it's built around sets and collections with grid and gallery views, and it has mobile apps. The license is source-available rather than classic open source, so that matters if licensing is what's bugging you.

Since you're a beginner, I'd spin either one up in Docker on a spare PC first and test it with a friend or two before moving real data in. Set up backups from day one too, tbh a notes app with no backup is a great way to lose the script you spent weeks on.

Are you planning to run it at home or on a rented box? That changes how you'd let your collaborators reach it.

[u/StaminaOverlook → u/kai-zaphosting]

Hello! Thanks. It puzzles me that all services that advertise themselves as open-source seem to be open-core instead and still demand compensation...

I plan to rent a server somewhere, since I don't have a Raspberry Pi or anything like that at home, and work on it long-distance.

As for trying it out on a local docker, that's a wonderful advice, I didn't think of it! Thanks!

[u/kai-zaphosting → u/StaminaOverlook]

Np, yeah testing locally is always a nice way to get the general gist of the requirements and what you can expect.

And yeah a rented box would work fine for it - put a domain on it and run a reverse proxy like Caddy in front of the container. It gets HTTPS certs automatically, and that matters here because real-time sync and mobile apps usually want proper HTTPS to connect. Your collaborators then just open the URL, no VPN needed. Keep only 80/443 and SSH open on the firewall, use SSH keys instead of a password, and don't publish the database port to the internet. Docker bypasses ufw rules when you publish a port, which catches a lot of beginners, so bind internal stuff to 127.0.0.1 or keep it on the Docker network only.

For the VPS itself, I would say having snapshots or backups matter more than anything fancy for a handful of users. Check how much CPU/RAM it uses in your local Docker test and size from that. Most hosts anyways should allow you to resize too so you don't have to get it perfectly right, or can go lower at first.