Open-source Muse alternatives

AFFiNE is an open-source workspace that combines writing, drawing and planning in a single app. Documents, an edgeless whiteboard and table views share the same blocks, so you can place rich text, sticky notes, embedded web pages, database views, linked pages, shapes and even slides anywhere on one canvas. It is presented as an alternative to Notion and Miro.

The project stresses local-first storage, meaning your data lives on your own device first, together with real-time collaboration. A multimodal AI assistant helps write reports, turn outlines into slides, summarize articles into mind maps and organize tasks. Under the hood it uses CRDTs for syncing and is built mostly in TypeScript and Rust, with Electron for the desktop app. It also supports Markdown, wiki and knowledge-base use, and presentations.

AFFiNE's license is listed as 'Other' on GitHub, so review it before commercial use. There is a live demo and documentation on the project site, a hosted version is available, and the app can also be self-hosted.

tldraw offline is a desktop application for drawing, diagramming and whiteboarding on tldraw's infinite canvas, described as a local whiteboard for you and your agents. There are no accounts or servers, and it works without an internet connection, with documents saved as portable .tldraw files you can keep private, back up or share.

Builds are available for macOS as a universal DMG for Apple silicon and Intel, for Windows as an installer for x64 or Arm64, and for Linux as an AppImage for x64 or Arm64 and a Debian package for x64, with a Homebrew option on macOS. Each document opens in its own window, the app keeps working copies of open documents and can restore unsaved work after an unexpected exit, and it checks for updates at startup. The .tldraw format holds the canvas, pages, stored media and any embedded document script, and legacy .tldr files can be opened and exported.

A user manual covers installation, file management, keyboard shortcuts, troubleshooting and agent setup. The repository metadata does not give a license, so check the project terms before use.

Ideon is a self-hosted visual workspace for projects. Instead of abstract folders and tabs, it uses spatial organization: you place blocks on a shared infinite canvas, and what sits close together is related, so a project's repositories, design notes and tasks can be seen on a single map.

Blocks can hold Markdown notes, images, links, files and to-dos, and live integrations embed repositories and issues from GitHub, GitLab, Gitea and Forgejo directly on the canvas. Teams can collaborate in real time, and a time travel feature shows historical snapshots of the workspace to trace past decisions. A hosted demo is available to try without setup.

Ideon runs with Docker and Docker Compose, using a PostgreSQL database and a persistent storage volume, and there is a one-click template for the Easypanel deployment platform. You set a secret key in an environment file before starting the stack and open the dashboard on port 3000. It is written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL-3.0.

InfiniPaint is an open-source drawing and note-taking app built on an infinite canvas that you can zoom without a fixed limit, until your computer runs out of memory. That makes it handy for sketches that mix huge scale differences, such as a solar system drawn to scale, as well as for ordinary notes and doodles.

Collaboration is built in through online lobbies, which include text chat and the ability to jump to the position of other participants. The project is written in C++ and has a web version compiled with Emscripten that needs a WebGL2-capable browser, though the maintainer recommends the native build for a better experience. Drawing tablets are among the topics the project lists.

Native builds are offered for Windows (installer or portable zip), macOS on Apple Silicon, and Linux through Flathub or flatpak bundles. Files use the .infpnt extension. The author says it was inspired by the Lorien infinite canvas program, and the code is released under the GPL-3.0 licence.

Revezone is a lightweight, graphic-centric productivity tool aimed at people building a personal knowledge base, often described as a second brain. It is local-first, meaning notes and boards are stored in the browser or on the local machine rather than requiring a cloud account, and it is currently in public beta.

It combines whiteboard functions based on both Excalidraw and Tldraw with a WYSIWYG, Notion-like note editor that supports slash commands and Markdown syntax. Notes and boards can be organized into folders in a left sidebar, with flexible layout allowing users to sort directories and split the screen by dragging and dropping. The Excalidraw-based board also supports custom fonts and double-link connections to notes within the desktop app.

Revezone can be used online, with data stored in the browser, or as a downloadable desktop app with data stored locally. It is written in TypeScript and released under the AGPL-3.0 license. This repository contains only the basic functionality of the project, according to its README.