SurfSense

SurfSense is a free, open-source desktop AI research notebook for people who work with private files (lawyers, accountants, consultants, researchers, engineers) and want answers and deliverables without uploading data to a vendor.

Key capabilities include:

• Runs entirely on your machine: installs on Windows, macOS and Linux with a normal installer (no Docker or terminal), keeps your index on your own disk, and needs no account.
• Bring your own model: run a local model (built-in llama.cpp, for example Qwen3 or Gemma) fully offline, or connect your own OpenAI, Anthropic or OpenAI-compatible key.
• Sources into deliverables: generate 12 formats such as slides, reports, podcasts, quizzes, mind maps, flashcards, Word, PDF, web pages and spreadsheets, stored locally.
• Plugins and MCP: 10 open-source plugins (Google Search, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Google Maps, Amazon, Walmart, Indeed and the open web crawler), plus support for your own MCP servers.

Pricing: Freemium. The app and all updates are free forever with no account or usage cap, including a 14-day licence for the plugins. An Individual licence for plugins and priority support is $60 for the first year, then $120 per year; Enterprise is custom. Check surfsense.com/pricing for current prices.

Notable as an offline, auditable, open-source alternative to NotebookLM that works with any model rather than a single provider.