Best Self-Hosted Note Taking & Knowledge Management Tools in 2026
Apps for capturing notes, organizing information, and building personal knowledge systems and second brains.
The top-rated pick is AFFiNE with 69,819 GitHub stars.
18 self-hosted note taking & knowledge management tools — ranked by GitHub stars. Browse all
AFFiNE
Open-source knowledge base combining note-taking, whiteboard, and project planning in one workspace.
memos
A modern, open-source, self-hosted knowledge management and note-taking platform designed for privacy-conscious users and organizations.
Obsidian
Joplin
Privacy-focused, open-source note-taking and to-do app with end-to-end encryption and multi-device sync.
TriliumNext Notes
Hierarchical personal knowledge base with powerful note-taking, rich text editing, and scripting capabilities.
Open Notebook
Open-source, privacy-first alternative to Google NotebookLM with multi-model AI support, podcast generation, and self-hosting.
HedgeDoc
Real-time collaborative markdown note editor you can self-host — write together with rich formatting and seamless sharing.
Google Docs
SilverBullet
Markdown-based note-taking app with powerful live queries, templates, and a pluggable scripting system for power users.
Files.md
A simple local-first note-taking app for your plain .md files with Telegram bot access.
Speakr
Self-hosted AI transcription and intelligent note-taking platform that turns audio recordings into organized, searchable notes with speaker identification.
Otter.ai
NoteDiscovery
A self-hosted knowledge base for note-taking with markdown support, Zettelkasten methodology, and Docker deployment.
Jotty
Lightweight self-hosted app for managing personal file-based notes and checklists.
Atomic
A self-hosted personal knowledge base that turns markdown notes into an AI-augmented knowledge graph with semantic search and wiki synthesis.
Pinboard
Scratch
A minimalist, offline-first markdown note-taking app for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Anchor
Offline-first, self-hostable note-taking app with rich text, tags, attachments, and cross-device sync via Docker.
Google Keep
Many Notes
A Markdown note-taking web application designed for simplicity with vaults, collaboration, and PWA support.
OpenKnowledge
AI-native, local-first markdown editor and LLM wiki with built-in integrations for Claude, Codex, and other agents.
kuku
Open-source local-first Markdown workspace for macOS with wiki, AI editing, and encrypted sync.
Obsidian
Journal
A simple self-hosted journal and blog API written in Go, using SQLite for storage.
Day OneWhy 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.