Open-source NotebookLM-style research assistant over your own sources
Connects to many apps and supports private, self-hosted models
Cited answers and podcast generation
Free to self-host
SurfSense — straight answers
What is SurfSense?
SurfSense is listed under AI Note-Taking & Docs, in the Productivity & Workflow category on Flocci AI Tools. Open-source NotebookLM-style research assistant over your own sources. It is free, with no paid plan attached, and it lives at github.com.
Is SurfSense free?
SurfSense is listed as fully free — there is no paid tier attached to it in the catalog. That makes it one of the 399 entries on Flocci AI Tools with no upgrade path built in.
What can SurfSense do?
SurfSense does 4 things the catalog singles out: Open-source notebooklm-style research assistant over your own sources; connects to many apps and supports private, self-hosted models; cited answers and podcast generation; free to self-host.
What is the best free alternative to SurfSense?
AFFiNE is the closest free alternative: it sits in the same AI Note-Taking & Docs sub-category and is free. Blinko, Google AI Edge Eloquent and Karakeep also start free. The full list is on the alternatives page.