Open Notebook

What is Open Notebook?

Open Notebook collects PDFs, Office files, web pages, audio and video into notebooks, then lets you search them (full-text and vector), chat with cited context, write notes and generate multi-speaker podcast summaries. It works with 20+ model providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible server, and runs as two Docker containers (app + SurrealDB) with a REST API.

Where it fits in a 10–200 person business

• Research a market, tender or regulation by loading all sources into one notebook and asking questions
• Turn long reports or training material into audio summaries for staff
• Keep confidential research on your own server instead of a Google account

These use cases are our editorial suggestions, not claims made by the project.

Can a business use Open Notebook? (license)

This is a plain-English summary of the license text, not legal advice. Third-party models you run with it have their own licenses.

Data & compliance: does Open Notebook phone home?

Checked against the project's own docs and repository on Oct 22, 2026. "Not documented" means we could not find the answer in official sources; it does not mean the feature is missing or that no data is sent. Third-party services you connect (model APIs, vector databases, search engines) have their own data policies. Compare all apps.

What hardware does Open Notebook need?

The official prerequisite is "4 GB of free RAM or more" for the Docker Compose setup. Models run at your AI provider or on a separate model server.

Source: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook/blob/main/docs/1-INSTALLATION/docker-compose.md

How much does it cost to host Open Notebook per month?

How to deploy Open Notebook

Method: Docker Compose

mkdir open-notebook && cd open-notebook
curl -o docker-compose.yml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lfnovo/open-notebook/main/docker-compose.yml
# edit docker-compose.yml: set OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY to a long random secret (openssl rand -hex 32)
docker compose up -d
# open http://localhost:8502 and add your AI provider in the UI

From the official instructions: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook#step-1-download-docker-composeyml. Always check the source for the current version before you run it.

Known gotchas when self-hosting Open Notebook

• The UI (8502) and API (5055) are published on all network interfaces with no password by default. Bind them to 127.0.0.1 or set OPEN_NOTEBOOK_PASSWORD before starting on a shared network or server. source
• Keep the OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY; it encrypts the stored API keys. Since v1.15.0 the key format cannot be read by older versions, so back up surreal_data and notebook_data before updating if you may need to roll back. source
• There is a single optional password, not user accounts; multi-user support is only listed as a future direction. source
• Anthropic and Groq offer no embedding models, so pair them with a provider that does for search. source

Alternatives in Knowledge base & RAG

• RAGFlow RAG engine with deep document parsing (OCR, layout and tables) and cited answers. Compare Open Notebook vs RAGFlow
• AnythingLLM All-in-one private chat with your documents, agents and an embeddable widget. Compare AnythingLLM vs Open Notebook
• PrivateGPT API-first private document Q&A that sits on top of your own LLM server. Compare Open Notebook vs PrivateGPT
• Onyx (formerly Danswer) AI chat and enterprise search connected to 50+ workplace apps. Compare Onyx (formerly Danswer) vs Open Notebook
• FastGPT Knowledge-base Q&A and visual AI workflow platform. Compare FastGPT vs Open Notebook
• MaxKB Enterprise knowledge-base and agent platform with RAG and workflows. Compare MaxKB vs Open Notebook

Sources

• GitHub repository: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
• Official documentation, Hardware requirements, Gotcha 2: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook/blob/main/docs/1-INSTALLATION/docker-compose.md
• License text: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook/blob/main/LICENSE
• Deploy instructions: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook#step-1-download-docker-composeyml
• Gotcha 1: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook#step-2-set-your-encryption-key
• Gotcha 3: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook#readme
• Gotcha 4: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook#provider-support-matrix
• Hetzner Cloud pricing (cost estimate): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
• GitHub stars, commits and releases: GitHub REST API, fetched Oct 22, 2026