Best Self-Hosted Knowledge Management Tools in 2026

Tools for capturing, organizing, and retrieving knowledge, notes, and information for individuals and teams.

The top-rated pick is AFFiNE with 69,819 GitHub stars.

5 self-hosted knowledge management tools — ranked by GitHub stars. Browse all

AFFiNE

Open-source knowledge base combining note-taking, whiteboard, and project planning in one workspace.

Alternative to:

Notion

TriliumNext Notes

Hierarchical personal knowledge base with powerful note-taking, rich text editing, and scripting capabilities.

Alternative to:

Notion

Open Notebook

Open-source, privacy-first alternative to Google NotebookLM with multi-model AI support, podcast generation, and self-hosting.

Alternative to:

NotebookLM

Onyx

Open-source AI chat and enterprise search platform with RAG that works with every LLM.

Alternative to:

Glean

Focalboard

Open-source, self-hosted project management tool — a free alternative to Trello, Notion, and Asana.

Alternative to:

Trello

Why self-host?

Self-hosting puts you in control. You own your data, avoid vendor lock-in, and eliminate recurring subscription costs. For teams handling sensitive data or operating under strict compliance requirements, running your own infrastructure is often the only viable option.