Anytype

If Notion and Slack had a decentralized baby

★★★★★ 4.9/5 from 103 reviews

Team collaboration software Knowledge base software Messaging apps

What is Anytype ?

Anytype is a safe haven for digital collaboration — a local-first, encrypted, offline-ready home for notes, chats, and lists you truly own. Built on peer-to-peer sync, it lets you work and collaborate without the cloud breathing down your neck.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Privacy-focused
UI/UX quality
Offline mode
Open source
Fast performance
Local-first
Cross-platform
E2E encryption
Knowledge graph
Customizable data model
P2P sync
Community support
Self-hosting
Web3 integration
Api integration
Collaboration
Custom properites
Multi-platform support
Notion alternative
Pdf integration
Responsive developer

Cons

Alpha/beta releases
Learning curve
Bugs
Missing Markdown support
Limited templates
Api issues
Apply templates to existing objects
Cloud syncing
Data export issues
Development-time
Licensing restrictions
Limited search functionality
More customizability for web publishing
No multi-tab support
No-bi-directional-linking
Notifications and reminders
Open source
Slow development time
To be able to change font and size of text
UI/UX quality
Web-integration
Webhooks support

Tool Details

Categories	Team collaboration software, Knowledge base software, Messaging apps
Website	www.anytype.io
Became Popular	January 21, 2020
Platforms	Web · iOS · Android
Social	Twitter · LinkedIn · GitHub

Recent Reviews (13)

Waren Jul 19, 2023

★★★★★

Anytype is the future of second brain and note-taking app. I was looking for an alternative to Notion, I love the features they have but I'm concerned about my privacy and security. I tried Obsidian and it is promising too but lacks features like Notion. I was looking for an alternative to both of them. I found Evernote and Nimbus Note but they are all overkill for my use case. I don't want to take so much time for organizing my things and again they are hosted on their servers and I'm still worried for my privacy. Until I come across to "toolfinder.co" website by Keep Productive and I saw this product! I was so amazed because this note-taking app uses cryptography and I can say this app is a "Web3" product which is perfect for me as I work in this industry. I love the idea and the principles of this product. As opensource and web3 advocate this is a must app for you to use when you want to organize your digital life. I can tell that Anytype is a combination of Obsidian and Notion but Web3. Just today I started to use this app as my main and permanent second brain. I'll probably include Anytype in my blog when I share my productivity apps. Great work out there!

Open source Privacy-focused Web3 integration E2E encryption

Brandon Oct 20, 2023

★★★★★

Once you get your head around Anytype, I'd argue this is far more powerful than Notion. That, combined with privacy-focused data ownership model, a transparent philosophy on monetization, a public roadmap, and plenty of documentation to give you the tools to make Anytype work just how you want, it's hard not to love it!

Privacy-focused Learning curve

owlyph Oct 21, 2025

★★★★★

Very flexible with how you can store, organize, and find notes in an interface that supports markdown but also provides nice additional features. It values linking between objects like Obsidian does but enables many other views through queries (similar to Capacities or Notion). It provides its own, open and very secure technique for synchronizing and sharing data that seems very future-oriented. The developers seem very active in refining and implementing important functionality but also have a very positive philosophy on their approach to the tool and work. It is open and the paid services come at a reasonable cost.

This is one of the most innovative PKM (and more) tools available. The AnyType team has created an intriguing and appealing foundation (protocol, next gen sync technique, etc.) that works really well across devices and platforms. It provides really functional building blocks to make it a great knowledge management companion but also to share and collaborate with others. It provides excellent link-centric (backlinks, outgoing links, etc.) visibility between the knowledge graph objects and has uniquely useful ways of enabling you to move between those (e.g. its Flow display). They've improved their user interface to make it simpler and more intuitive in the recent versions so it no longer has the somewhat difficult learning curve that it had in its early days. Community support Cross-platform Open source Offline mode Self-hosting Collaboration Privacy-focused Web3 integration E2E encryption Local-first Knowledge graph P2P sync Customizable data model Responsive developer Exporting data is much better than it was in earlier releases but there are still a few issues that could be improved to ensure that all forms of data are completely exported and portable to other tools. Issues here and there to improve UI/UX quality seem to be getting gradually taken care of. The search works well and there are so many query options that finding notes is not really a problem but it could be improved to also have advanced search functionality. Limited search functionality Data export issues UI/UX quality No multi-tab support

Rom Dec 11, 2025

★★★★★

I have a lot of information on notion and i'm willing to have less data in the hands of America or cloud services. I'm replacing lot of app with european or local hosted alternatives. Offline mode and no cloud dependance is great. Object based is also a great way to rethink organisation. But the app needs to be very polished to avoid any confusion and be fully reliable.For the moment notion feels a bit more reliable. But I'm organaizing my anytype space so it is getting stronger.

Great app, nice design, feel a little bit uncertain where the things "are" but I'm getting ok with it :) Fast performance Cross-platform Offline mode Privacy-focused UI/UX quality E2E encryption Local-first Notion alternative Mobile views for query and collections in pages should be implemented.Formulas to collect data or sums or... from multiple collectionsRepeatable tasks would make the calendar view very usefull.Import CSV but with the possibility to fill properties in anytype with properties from file (without recreating each time). Data export issues Missing Markdown support No multi-tab support Slow development time

Philipp Dec 10, 2025

★★★★★

Anytype stays true to the local-first and privacy-first vision. It’s rare to see a tool that treats autonomy and digital autonomy as a real philosophy, not just a feature.Especially recent history shows how important digital sovereignty can be!It is also always getting closer to become an "Everything App" and will improve the way we work and think by bringing information, ideation, communication and collaboration together in one place.

The technical foundation of Anytype and the conviction behind it might be the biggest reason why I am a convinced user and active member of the community for almost 4 years now.Although I was always missing some features I was always positively assured that almost all I am waiting for will come in the future and a lot of it was already implemented ever since I found Anytype.It always made a lot of sense to me that the technical foundation makes it way more challenging to work on well known features from SaaS products and I am happy the team took the challenge seriously despite very loud and demanding Feature requests from the Community.The team persistently iterated and developed new solutions that enable modern and fast collaboration without compromising on security, privacy and digital autonomy.I am full of praise for this new kind of software and I could definitely nitpick on specific solutions but especially the last Town Hall showed me that the Roadmap will bring everything I could dream of and I am patient and happy to pick up the discussion and give my opinion on specific features and UX solutions when the team is actively working on it.I see a very bright future for Anytype but even more important for their users! Fast performance Community support Cross-platform Multi-platform support Open source Offline mode Self-hosting Collaboration Privacy-focused UI/UX quality E2E encryption Local-first Knowledge graph P2P sync Customizable data model Responsive developer Api integration Bugs Limited search functionality No multi-tab support Notifications and reminders

Hamesonpiel Dec 12, 2025

★★★★★

Because AnyType is available offline. It doesn't come with limited AI access.When it comes to significantly gated features, I prefer whole or nothing, not tempting help which doesn't really help.The whole vault can be transferred via storage so I can work from places to places.No need to worry about remote area without Internet or the data redundancy at the same time.

More than just a note taking app. What I like about this is fast switching between spaces (faster than turning a physical page), user-friendliness, and sharable chats. The entire vault can be transfer locally or even without using the Internet. Very convenient and comfortable! Open source Offline mode Local-first

Kamryn Dec 11, 2025

★★★★★

Anytype uses a familiar data model from Notion and Capacities while having the privacy and data sovereignty of Obsidian

Coming from Obsidian, Anytype is such a joy to use. It frees itself from the constraints of file/folder organization and lets you organize with a lot of flexibility, all while feeling cozy and smooth with no need for hacking around with third party plugins. Data being stored offline on my computer and only optionally backed up to their cloud is such a bonus over any similar program. I get the UX I love about Notion with the privacy/sovereignty I love about Obsidian in one program. I feel like I'm their exact target audience and I've been swooning over it for the last 2 years Fast performance Cross-platform Multi-platform support Open source Offline mode Privacy-focused UI/UX quality E2E encryption Local-first P2P sync Customizable data model Notion alternative Need reminder notifications and calendar on mobile

Quinn Dec 20, 2025

★★★★★

Wanted privacy, so not Notion. Affine is based on indexdb and doesnt offer single click export of all documents to markdown. The cloud support is very cool.

Uniquely meets my requirements for easy export, privacy, and flexibility in an open-source app. Obsidian was too simple and manual. Excited to see it grow and glad to finally have a flexible home across any device for any project or idea. Community support Open source UI/UX quality E2E encryption Custom properites Android app sometimes buggy when creating new objects.

badluma Jan 4, 2026

★★★★★

Because it is more transparent than Notion.

It is pretty complicated at first, but as soon as you get the hang of it it is amazing 🤩 Open source Offline mode Self-hosting Privacy-focused The web publishing aspect is something that can definitely be still improved. E.g. you can only have your page in light mode and not in dark mode. Learning curve Limited search functionality More customizability for web publishing

Lena Dec 11, 2025

★★★★★

Privacy, privacy, privacy.And no AI down your throat

I've been a fan of Notion until they started pushing AI everywhere. I really appreciate the ease of use of Anytype and how easy it is to learn. I am using it for work as well as my second brain.What stands out for me is the privacy focus, as everything is scanned and collected these days and it's time to move away from the companies that are doing so just because it gives us 2% more convenience. Privacy-focused UI/UX quality Local-first I would love to have the Toggle on Headings too! Limited templates No-bi-directional-linking

Shawn Dec 10, 2025

★★★★★

Owning my own data in a privacy preserving way that with out too many gimmicks

More and more I've wanted to control my data. I now am trying to only use products that place the end users needs first. Open source Privacy-focused Local-first Customizable data model The URLs to share pages are too long but I've read it will be fixed soon.