The gist

Open Notebook is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Google Notebook LM. It allows users to build private knowledge bases from various content types, including PDFs, videos, web pages, and audio files. The tool solves the problem of vendor lock-in and data privacy by letting users choose from over 18 AI model providers, including local models, to chat with and analyze their own research materials securely on their own infrastructure.

What it does

Organize multi-modal research content like PDFs, videos, audio, and web pages.
Chat with your documents and notes using a context-aware AI assistant.
Connect to over 18 AI providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and local models via Ollama.
Generate multi-speaker podcasts from your research materials.
Search across all uploaded content using full-text and vector search.
Automate integrations and custom workflows using a full REST API.

How it works

Users deploy Open Notebook via Docker on their own hardware. After setup, you create notebooks and upload source documents, videos, or web links. You then configure your preferred AI model provider by adding an API key in the UI. The application processes and indexes the content, enabling you to perform searches and have contextual AI chats. It is a completely self-hosted, open-source application, so you only pay for your own AI usage from third-party providers.

Best for

Researchers, developers, and students who want to build a private, AI-powered knowledge base from their own documents while maintaining full control over their data and choice of AI models.

Watch out for

This tool is self-hosted and requires familiarity with Docker for installation and setup. It is not a cloud-based SaaS product and is aimed at more technical users.