# open-notebook vs surfsense

> Two self-hosted [NotebookLM alternatives](https://selfhost.directory/alternative-to/notebooklm), compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | open-notebook | surfsense |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 80/100 ✓ | 71/100 |
| Rank in category | #5 of 42 in Knowledge Management | #5 of 7 in RAG |
| GitHub stars | 40 681 ✓ | 16 669 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +1 247 ✓ | +416 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 16 | 25 ✓ |
| Latest release | v1.15.0 · 4 Oct 2026 | v2.2.5 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Easy | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | Yes ✓ | No |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Typescript | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

open-notebook scores 80/100 against 71/100 for surfsense, so it is the safer default.

surfsense ships more often: 25 stable releases in the past year, against 16 for open-notebook.

open-notebook is growing faster right now (+1 247 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [open-notebook](https://selfhost.directory/project/open-notebook) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/open-notebook.md)
- [surfsense](https://selfhost.directory/project/surfsense) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/surfsense.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/open-notebook-vs-surfsense