--- title: AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and... description: A personal account of switching from Notion to AppFlowy, focusing on self-hosting as the solution to Notion's core frustrations: slow load times with large... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and self-hosting it fixed my biggest complaint | daily.dev og:description: A personal account of switching from Notion to AppFlowy, focusing on self-hosting as the solution to Notion's core frustrations: slow load times with large... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/HZC4Z3gAR.png og:image:alt: AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and self-hosting it fixed my biggest complaint og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and self-hosting it fixed my biggest complaint **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 7 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A personal account of switching from Notion to AppFlowy, focusing on self-hosting as the solution to Notion's core frustrations: slow load times with large workspaces, poor offline usability, and lack of data ownership. Self-hosted AppFlowy delivers instant page loads, full offline access, and a near-identical interface with minimal learning curve. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the maximum number of rows Notion allows in a database before it stops saving writes? Notion caps databases at 250,000 rows, after which writes stop saving entirely. Notion's own help center acknowledges that databases slow down as pages, properties, and complex sorts or filters are added, and recommends splitting large pages, hiding properties, and flattening deep nests as workarounds rather than fixing the underlying performance ceiling. _Anyone hitting Notion's scaling limits can find self-hosted alternatives discussed on daily.dev._ ### Is AppFlowy a good self-hosted alternative to Notion for offline use? Yes, self-hosted AppFlowy works fully offline with no sync warnings or degraded functionality, since data lives on the same machine as the editor. It also opens dense, data-heavy pages instantly with no lag, unlike cloud-hosted Notion workspaces that slow down as they grow. The interface, slash commands, and block types closely mirror Notion, so the switch requires little relearning. _Developers comparing self-hosted note-taking tools can track alternatives like AppFlowy on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I moved my entire Notion workspace to a free tool running on my own machine and never looked back](https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-my-entire-notion-workspace-to-a-free-tool-running-on-my-own-machine-and-never-looked-back-urzogpdxw) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#notion](https://daily.dev/tags/notion) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and self-hosting it fixed my biggest complaint","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar"},"datePublished":"2026-08-05T14:30:20.606Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:54:18.157Z","description":"A personal account of switching from Notion to AppFlowy, focusing on self-hosting as the solution to Notion's core frustrations: slow load times with large...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8e56758047c17f80f56342a2e5e74c3f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/8e56758047c17f80f56342a2e5e74c3f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":7},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,self-hosting,notion","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AppFlowy finally feels like real Notion, and self-hosting it fixed my biggest complaint"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/appflowy-finally-feels-like-real-notion-and-self-hosting-it-fixed-my-biggest-complaint-hzc4z3gar#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the maximum number of rows Notion allows in a database before it stops saving writes?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Notion caps databases at 250,000 rows, after which writes stop saving entirely. 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