How it helps your business
Best for:Research & Development TeamsContent Creators & WritersPrivacy-Conscious IndividualsEngineering & Product Managers
AppFlowy is the modular, high-speed workspace that power users have been waiting for. For years, Notion has dominated the "all-in-one" workspace market, but its cloud-only nature and increasing bloat have left many users seeking a faster, private alternative. AppFlowy solves this by delivering a comparable experience built on a high-performance Rust backend.
By self-hosting AppFlowy, you ensure that your most important notes, strategies, and project data never leave your local infrastructure. Its Flutter-based UI is remarkably fast, and its database capabilities offer the same flexibility as Notion—letting you switch between Kanban boards, calendars, and grids with a single click. For organizations that handle sensitive intellectual property, AppFlowy is the clear choice for a self-hosted wiki and project hub.
Key Benefits
- Performance First: Experience near-instant page loads thanks to a native Rust engine.
- Absolute Privacy: You own your data. Period. No cloud-scanning or third-party tracking.
- Customizability: AppFlowy is more than an app; it's a modular platform you can mold to your specific needs.
- Offline Capable: Work on your documents without an internet connection and sync when you're back online.
- Modern Tech Stack: Benefit from the security and speed of the Rust/Flutter architecture.
Production Architecture Overview
A production-ready AppFlowy Cloud (self-hosted backend) setup includes:
- AppFlowy Cloud Service: The core sync and collaboration engine.
- PostgreSQL Database: Stores your workspace metadata and relational data.
- MinIO / S3: Used for object storage of attachments and images.
- Redis: Handles caching and realtime document synchronization.
- Reverse Proxy: Nginx or Traefik for routing and SSL.
How we deploy this for you
Security Hardened
Firewalls, SSL, and hardened kernels out of the box.
Performance Tuned
Optimized for speed with cache and DB fine-tuning.
Automated Backups
Daily off-site backups so you never lose your data.
Private Cloud
You own the server and the data. No middleman.
Implementation Blueprint
Prerequisites
- Resources: 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM.
- Platform: Docker-compatible host (Linux/Mac/Windows).
Docker Compose Configuration
version: '3'
services:
appflowy-cloud:
image: appflowy/appflowy-cloud:latest
container_name: appflowy-cloud
restart: always
environment:
- DATABASE_URL=postgres://appflowy:password@postgres:5432/appflowy
- REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379/1
- APPFLOWY_ACCESS_CONTROL=true
ports:
- "8080:8080"
depends_on:
- postgres
- redis
postgres:
image: postgres:15
volumes:
- ./postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
environment:
- POSTGRES_DB=appflowy
- POSTGRES_USER=appflowy
- POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
redis:
image: redis:7
volumes:
- ./redis-data:/dataStep-by-Step Deployment
- Clone the Cloud Repository:
git clone https://github.com/AppFlowy-IO/AppFlowy-Cloud.git cd AppFlowy-Cloudshell - Configuration: Update the
docker/.envfile with your specific secrets and domains. - Database Initialization: The cloud service will automatically migrate the database on first boot.
- Launch:
docker-compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up -dshell - Client Configuration: Open your AppFlowy Desktop app and change the "Sync Server" to your new self-hosted URL.
Scaling Strategy
- DB Optimization: For large teams, utilize PostgreSQL indexing and pg_repack to maintain database performance as your workspace grows.
- External Storage: Move from local Docker volumes to AWS S3 or Google Cloud Storage for infinite document attachment capacity.
- Worker Allocation: Scale the AppFlowy-Cloud service horizontally behind a load balancer to handle hundreds of concurrent users.
Includes Security & performance standards
Best place to host AppFlowy
We recommend Hostinger for its reliability and low cost. It's the perfect home for your new apps, featuring easy setup and 24/7 support.
Get Started on Hostinger