# Open Notebook

> An open source, self-hosted alternative to NotebookLM

- Category: Agents & dev (`agents`)
- Tags: `open-source`, `free`, `mcp`
- Official: https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
- Wunderlust: https://wunderlust.xyz/r/open-notebook
- Image: https://wunderlust.xyz/media/open-notebook-poster.jpg
- Video preview: https://wunderlust.xyz/media/open-notebook.webm
- Added: 2026-11-05

## What it is

A self-hosted, open source research app that organizes your own sources and lets you chat with them using the AI model of your choice.

## What it’s for

Use it to research privately and choose between local models or APIs.

## Benefits

- Ingests PDFs, videos, audio, web pages and Office documents, with text and vector search
- Chat with citations, assisted notes and podcasts with 1 to 4 speakers
- More than 20 AI providers, including local ones with Ollama, and a REST API with MCP

## Caveats

- MIT license; according to the README, you only pay for AI usage
- By default, the interface and API are open on the network without a password; on a shared network, set a password

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