While Anytype was founded in 2018, the first alpha was released in 2020. I joined in 2022 and Anytype has changed a lot even in the time that I have been a part of it. I have also seen videos of very early versions of Anytype when it had a bit of a different mission in mind. It looked a lot more like Notion then and ran on already existing technologies. A lot of what has taken more time has happened concerning the new Anysync protocol and the app striving to be different from other knowledge management tools. Anytype is nearing its full public launch which will be coming soon in the next month or so. For now, the app is officially out of Alpha with the removal of invite codes and striving towards becoming a more collaborative app (even this very community is planned to eventually be moved to the Anytype app itself).
What @23jjl means by “full public launch” is the Beta launch that is expected to happen in the coming weeks. Anytype just exited Alpha and is now currently in the (pre)Beta stage of its development.