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Comparison · Collab

AFFiNE vs HedgeDoc

A side-by-side editorial comparison of AFFiNE and HedgeDoc — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:self-hosted

AFFiNE vs HedgeDoc: at a glance

FeatureAFFiNEHedgeDoc
SectorCollabCollab
Velocity score5.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesknowledge base, canary builds, security patches, self-hostedmarkdown, collaborative-editing, security-fixes, self-hosted
Last editorial update2d ago2mo ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is AFFiNE?

AFFiNE's canaries stay on upkeep: a Swift Collections bump follows CVE and migration fixes.

AFFiNE ships a canary build almost daily, and nearly all of October has been dependency and infrastructure work. The newest, canary 915, bumps Apple's Swift Collections package to 1.7.4 for the native apps. Before it came a happy-dom code-execution CVE patch, payment-record repairs during a data migration, and non-root, read-only containers with multi-architecture Windows builds.

Read the full AFFiNE trajectory →

What is HedgeDoc?

A collaborative markdown editor on a security-driven maintenance cadence.

HedgeDoc's 1.x line ships every one to two months and is dominated by security response. Recent releases carry seven advisories between them — HTML injection via an email localpart, YAML frontmatter denial of service, CSRF in the Gist export, a rate-limit bypass through CF-Connecting-IP, a permission-value validation gap, missing upload security headers, and script execution in uploaded SVGs. Around those sit configuration knobs for the external-link warning, webp uploads, and rate limits.

Read the full HedgeDoc trajectory →

AFFiNE vs HedgeDoc: editorial side-by-side

A
AFFiNE
COLLAB
5.0

AFFiNE's canaries stay on upkeep: a Swift Collections bump follows CVE and migration fixes.

◆ Current state

AFFiNE ships a canary build almost daily, and nearly all of October has been dependency and infrastructure work. The newest, canary 915, bumps Apple's Swift Collections package to 1.7.4 for the native apps. Before it came a happy-dom code-execution CVE patch, payment-record repairs during a data migration, and non-root, read-only containers with multi-architecture Windows builds.

◆ Where it's heading

The feed reads like a team hardening the backend and toolchain ahead of a larger cutover: a payment-identity migration, stricter deployment defaults and steady Renovate bumps across web, server and native code. Feature work isn't visible in canaries this month; the last user-facing fix was October 12's blob-upload quota correction.

◆ Prediction

Expect the data migration to finish in the next canaries, followed by a stable release that bundles it; the entries don't show which user-facing feature is next.

H
HedgeDoc
COLLAB
2.5

A collaborative markdown editor on a security-driven maintenance cadence.

◆ Current state

HedgeDoc's 1.x line ships every one to two months and is dominated by security response. Recent releases carry seven advisories between them — HTML injection via an email localpart, YAML frontmatter denial of service, CSRF in the Gist export, a rate-limit bypass through CF-Connecting-IP, a permission-value validation gap, missing upload security headers, and script execution in uploaded SVGs. Around those sit configuration knobs for the external-link warning, webp uploads, and rate limits.

◆ Where it's heading

Two threads run in parallel. The perimeter work reduces attack surface and maintenance burden at once: old API endpoints and unused config are deleted, Node 18 support is dropped now that its security window has closed, and features added in one release tend to gain an off switch in the next. The second thread is realtime correctness — concurrent-editing data loss, connections dropped mid-handshake, operations discarded during revision gap recovery — which is the only work aimed at the core editing experience rather than its edges.

◆ Prediction

Expect the 1.x line to continue as security and correctness maintenance, with more legacy endpoints and configuration removed rather than new editing features added.

Alternatives to AFFiNE and HedgeDoc

Other Collab products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either AFFiNE or HedgeDoc.

See all AFFiNE alternatives → · See all HedgeDoc alternatives →

Recent activity from AFFiNE and HedgeDoc

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 2d agoAFFiNECanary 909: Windows static-link build fix
  2. 3d agoAFFiNECanary 915: Swift Collections bumped to 1.7.4
  3. 4d agoAFFiNECanary 907: happy-dom v21 patches code-execution CVE
  4. 6d agoAFFiNECanary 908: payment-record and upload fixes for data migration
  5. 7d agoAFFiNECanary 909: hardened containers, multi-arch Windows builds
  6. 17d agoAFFiNEAFFiNE fixes blob uploads after storage quota changes
  7. 2mo agoHedgeDocHedgeDoc 1.12.0
  8. 3mo agoHedgeDocHedgeDoc 1.11.1
  9. 4mo agoHedgeDocHedgeDoc 1.11.0
  10. 6mo agoHedgeDocHedgeDoc 1.10.8
  11. 8mo agoHedgeDocHedgeDoc 1.10.7
  12. 8mo agoHedgeDocHedgeDoc 1.10.6

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between AFFiNE and HedgeDoc?

Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within Collab. AFFiNE is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is AFFiNE better than HedgeDoc?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. AFFiNE is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Collab products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to AFFiNE?

Top AFFiNE alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "AFFiNE alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/affine for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to HedgeDoc?

Top HedgeDoc alternatives in Collab are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "HedgeDoc alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hedgedoc for the full list with editorial commentary on each.