Open Notebook

A private, self-hosted alternative to Google's NotebookLM: collect sources, chat with them, take notes and generate podcasts with the AI models you choose.

41.2k stars, 4.7k forks TypeScript On GitHub since October 2024

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is Open Notebook?

Open Notebook organizes research into notebooks of sources such as PDFs, web pages, videos and audio. You can search them, chat with them with citations, write notes, and turn material into podcast-style audio with several speakers. Unlike NotebookLM, it works with more than 20 model providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral and local models through Ollama, and keeps your data on your own server. The interface is translated into 12 languages.

Good fit if

  • You like NotebookLM but want your sources and notes on your own machine.
  • You want to pick, or mix, the models that read your material.
  • You produce audio summaries of research for listening on the go.

Look elsewhere if

  • You need a team knowledge assistant connected to company apps: Onyx.
  • You want deep web research reports rather than notebooks: GPT Researcher.

Before you adopt it

Open Notebook is MIT-licensed, with nothing held back for a paid plan. It runs with Docker. Its creator writes a large share of the commits, with about 20 people contributing over the last three months.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 30 October 2026. Report a correction

Open Notebook health: is it still maintained?

76 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    90 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 5 October 2026.
    24 / 30
  • Contributors
    20 people wrote the 90 commits of the last 90 days; the most active wrote 61% of them.
    18 / 20
  • Releases
    15 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v1.15.0, on 4 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 33% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 5 days.
    10 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 1 November 2026. How the score works

Open Notebook license: is it open source?

Open Notebook uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. October 2024First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

How to run Open Notebook yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
docker-compose.yml: 2 services
Setup effort
2 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
12 languages

Install instructions: open-notebook.ai or the README on GitHub.

Alternatives to Open Notebook

  • OpenClawThe AI that really does things. Any OS. Any Platform. The lobster way. 79 health · MIT · 394k stars
  • ChatboxPowerful AI Client 79 health · GPL-3.0 · 42.2k stars
  • LeonLeon is your open-source personal assistant. 57 health · MIT · 17.6k stars
  • OnyxOpen Source AI Platform - AI Chat with advanced features that works with every LLM 77 health · MIT · 33.1k stars
  • LibreChatEnhanced ChatGPT Clone: Features Agents, MCP, Skills, DeepSeek, Anthropic, AWS, OpenAI, Responses API,… 74 health · MIT · 46.6k stars

All 36 projects in AI chat & local LLMs

Questions about Open Notebook

Is Open Notebook open source?

Yes. Open Notebook is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Open Notebook still maintained?

Its health score is 76 of 100 (actively developed). It had 90 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 5 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 4 October 2026.

How do I run Open Notebook?

You can run it with Docker. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to Open Notebook?

Close alternatives in the AI chat & local LLMs category include OpenClaw, Chatbox, Leon.