The #1 Self-Hosted
Confluence Alternative

Yes. AppFlowy is a self-hosted alternative to Confluence Data Center for organizations that want to keep their data and infrastructure under their own control. It offers collaborative documents, hierarchical wikis, comments, version history, granular permissions, and many of the other core capabilities teams rely on Confluence for. AppFlowy can be fully self-hosted using Docker, Kubernetes, or your preferred infrastructure, giving your organization control over networking, storage, authentication, backups, AI services, and security policies. Confluence Data Center remains available to existing customers during Atlassian’s transition period, but it is no longer a long-term self-hosting option. New customers can no longer purchase Data Center, and existing Confluence Data Center deployments will reach end of life on March 28, 2029.

For organizations that primarily use Confluence for company knowledge, documentation, project hubs, meeting notes, policies, collaborative pages, and operational workflows, AppFlowy can replace a substantial portion of the platform. AppFlowy combines collaborative documents, hierarchical wikis, comments, version history, permissions, relational databases, project workflows, and AI in one workspace. Organizations that rely heavily on custom Confluence macros, Jira-specific automation, Marketplace apps, or bespoke Atlassian integrations should assess those dependencies before migrating.

Yes. AppFlowy supports multi-user real-time document collaboration, concurrent database editing, comments, version history, and granular access controls for team environments. Teams can collaborate simultaneously across documents and databases, including live Kanban and Grid updates.

Confluence Cloud provides databases with structured fields, filters, sorting, relations, saved views, and Table, Card, and Board layouts. AppFlowy offers relational databases in self-hosted deployments with Grid, Kanban, Calendar, Gallery, List, Timeline, Feed, Chart, and Form views, along with linked views, full-page records, database templates, relations, and rollups. This makes AppFlowy particularly useful for organizations that want to manage projects and operational data without moving structured business data into Confluence Cloud.

Confluence supports embedding an entire database, keeping the content dynamically connected to the source and updating automatically. However, it does not support linked views of a data source. In Confluence, a page generally embeds a view that has been created and saved on the source database: One database → multiple saved source views → pages embed those views In AppFlowy, each linked instance can have its own view configuration while continuing to reference the same underlying data: One database → multiple linked instances → each instance has independent filters, sorts, groups, properties, and layout For example, a central Projects database could appear as: Engineering workspace: Kanban filtered to Team = Engineering, grouped by status Leadership dashboard: Table filtered to strategic projects, sorted by risk Quarterly planning page: Calendar or timeline filtered to the current quarter All three views operate on the same records, but each is configured for its specific audience without adding every contextual view to the source database’s shared view list. This is particularly useful for executive dashboards, department homepages, project hubs, OKR reviews, and cross-functional planning.

Yes. In AppFlowy, every database record is also a full working page. A project can combine structured properties such as owner, status, priority, and due date with goals, requirements, milestones, risks, decisions, comments, and weekly updates. In Confluence, a database entry can link to a separate page or live doc for detailed content. AppFlowy keeps the structured record and working document together, reducing duplication and context switching.

AppFlowy lets teams apply templates directly to database records, so every new project, incident, risk, or customer account starts with the right structure. For example, a Project template can include objectives, scope, milestones, risks, decisions, and weekly updates, all within the project record itself. Confluence can create a separate linked page from a template, while AppFlowy keeps the structured record and working document together, reducing context switching and standardizing recurring workflows.

Yes. Confluence Cloud supports Entry links for connecting records across databases, Entry backlinks for showing reciprocal relationships, and Entry details for displaying fields from related records. AppFlowy also supports relational databases, but related records can additionally function as full working pages containing both structured properties and detailed collaborative content. This lets teams connect projects, tasks, customers, risks, meetings, and other business data while keeping the context and documentation attached to each record.

With AppFlowy, yes. Relational rollups can automatically summarize information from related records. For example, a Project can aggregate task count, completion, effort, deadlines, budget, or risk from its related Tasks. Confluence can display properties from linked entries and run simple calculations within a database view, but it does not provide the same relational rollup model. Rollups are particularly useful for project portfolios, OKRs, sales pipelines, incident tracking, procurement, and other workflows that require automatic cross-database reporting.

AppFlowy is particularly useful when a business record needs to be both structured data and an evolving working document. Common use cases include: • Product development and epics • Project and portfolio management • OKR tracking • Incident and risk management • Customer and account management • Security and compliance reviews • Vendor and procurement workflows • Hiring and candidate management • Recurring team reviews and meetings Teams can track structured properties, write detailed documentation, collaborate, create tailored views, and automatically aggregate related information without maintaining separate records and pages.

Both Confluence and AppFlowy provide AI capabilities for writing, chat, summaries, search, and meeting workflows. The key difference is deployment flexibility. AppFlowy lets organizations choose and self-host their AI models, run them locally or on-premises, operate AI inside fully air-gapped environments, or disable AI entirely. This enables teams to use AI with sensitive company knowledge while keeping data and model infrastructure within their own security boundary.

Confluence is primarily web-based and provides native mobile apps for iOS and Android, but it does not offer a native desktop application. AppFlowy provides native desktop applications for macOS, Windows, and Linux, native mobile apps for iOS and Android, and a web app. This gives teams more flexibility to work across devices and environments, including desktop-first and self-hosted setups.

AppFlowy offers more customization options, white labeling, and custom domains or URLs for sharing public pages. AppFlowy users can customize fonts, font size, page width, profile cards, cursor colors, selection colors, themes, page covers, and page icons. Confluence’s customization options are more limited. Confluence does not natively support custom domains or vanity URLs for shared pages, users have to use third-party apps to achieve this. It also does not support white labeling.

Confluence may remain the stronger choice when an organization: • Is committed to moving fully to Atlassian Cloud • Depends extensively on Jira-native workflows • Uses a large number of specialized Marketplace apps • Has developed custom macros or Atlassian automations • Prefers a single vendor for its broader Atlassian stack AppFlowy is the stronger fit when an organization prioritizes: • Long-term self-hosting • Infrastructure and data ownership • Air-gapped or restricted-network deployment • Local and on-prem AI • Native desktop and mobile apps alongside a stable web app • Advanced relational workflows • Minimal duplication and a single source of truth with powerful database features • Reducing dependence on the Atlassian ecosystem

Start by assessing how your organization uses Confluence beyond storing pages. Inventory your spaces, page hierarchies, attachments, permissions, templates, macros, Jira integrations, Marketplace apps, databases, identity requirements, and operational workflows. Next, migrate a representative pilot workspace and identify which Confluence structures should be recreated directly and which workflows can be simplified using AppFlowy databases, full-page records, templates, linked views, and rollups. Once the target setup has been validated, migrate gradually by department or workspace rather than moving the entire organization at once. AppFlowy also provides custom Confluence migration assistance for enterprise customers. Contact us to discuss your migration requirements.