Open Notebook

Open Notebook is a self-hosted note-taking and research app. You add sources such as PDFs, videos and web pages, chat with them and write notes, using an AI provider you choose or a local model.

• Organizes PDFs, videos, audio, web pages and Office documents as sources
• Chat that cites the sources, notes and insights it used
• Multi-speaker podcast generation
• Works with 20+ AI providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Ollama
• Full-text and vector search across your content
• REST API and MCP integration

Tasks

Summarize documents & videos, Take notes & build a knowledge base, Study & learn

People

Researchers and students who want AI help with their own sources, People who want to keep their notes and documents private, Self-hosters who want to choose their own AI models

• You set up hosting yourself with Docker and add your own AI provider
• The UI and API have no password by default; set one before sharing a network
• Needs at least 4GB RAM and 2GB of free disk space

Is Open Notebook free?

Yes. Open Notebook has a free plan: Open source (MIT): free to self-host; you add your own model key or Ollama. We last checked github.com's pricing page on 2026-11-12.

What does the Open Notebook free plan include?

Open source (MIT): free to self-host; you add your own model key or Ollama. Source: https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook (checked 2026-11-12).

How do I get Open Notebook for free?

Steps: Download docker-compose.yml and set your own encryption key; Run docker compose up -d and open the app in your browser; Add an AI provider or a local model under Models. Start at https://www.open-notebook.ai/get-started (checked 2026-10-22).

Do I need an account to use Open Notebook for free?

Not for the free option: the free route is to self-host Open Notebook (Download docker-compose.yml and set your own encryption key). Checked 2026-10-22.

What's the catch with Open Notebook's free plan?

You need your own AI provider API key or a local model server. The UI and API have no password by default. Checked 2026-10-22.

What are free alternatives to Open Notebook?

RemNote, Turbo AI and Gemini Notebook all have free plans. We checked their free offers on 2026-11-12.

What do I need to install it?

Docker, at least 4GB RAM, 2GB of free disk space, and an API key for a supported provider such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Vertex or OpenRouter, or a local model server such as Ollama.Source: open-notebook.ai/get-started

Which AI providers does it support?

The README lists 20+ providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral and Ollama, plus any OpenAI-compatible server.Source: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook

Can it run fully locally?

The README says you can run models locally with Ollama, and with local models nothing leaves your machine.Source: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook

Free offer

Verified 2026-11-12 on github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook

…Notebook is MIT licensed. See the LICENSE file for…

Page content

Checked 2026-10-22 against

• open-notebook.ai
• github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
• open-notebook.ai/get-started

How we check free offers