SurfSense
MODSetter/SurfSense
Privacy-focused, self-hostable research assistant over your documents and connected sources.
Says it is an open-source alternative to NotebookLM (from its README)
Install: Docker install per README/docs.
Open-source alternatives to NotebookLM
4 open-source research notebooks you can use instead of NotebookLM. Self-described alternatives are labelled separately from our own picks.
They say they are a NotebookLM alternative
These projects describe themselves as an open-source alternative in their own README or GitHub description.
Podcastfy
souzatharsis/podcastfy
Python tool/API that turns text, URLs, PDFs and videos into multi-speaker AI podcast audio.
Says it is an open-source alternative to NotebookLM's podcast (Audio Overview) feature (from its README)
Install: pip install podcastfy (PyPI per docs).
Our picks
Editorial picks: open-source projects that do a similar job to NotebookLM.
Khoj
khoj-ai/khoj
Self-hostable "AI second brain": chat over your docs and the web, deep research, custom agents and scheduled automations.
Install: pip or Docker install per docs.khoj.dev.
Also listed on AIUseFlow
Stars, licences and last-commit dates come from the GitHub REST API, fetched 17 Oct 2026. Archived repos, repos with no commit in 12 months and non-open licences are excluded. Install commands are copied from each README.
FAQ
What are the best open-source alternatives to NotebookLM?
Our picks: SurfSense, Podcastfy, Khoj, Open Notebook. Each one is open source; check the licence before commercial use.
Which projects say they are a NotebookLM alternative?
SurfSense, Podcastfy describe themselves as an open-source alternative in their own README or repo description.
Can I self-host a NotebookLM alternative for free?
The software is free to use under its licence. You still pay for your own hosting and for any model API you connect, unless you run a local model.
More open-source alternatives
Cursor · GitHub Copilot · Claude Code · Lovable, Bolt.new and v0 · ChatGPT · Perplexity · Notion · Vercel, Netlify and Heroku