Open Source Alternative to NotebookLM

Reddit r/artificial / 3/24/2026

💬 OpinionDeveloper Stack & InfrastructureSignals & Early TrendsTools & Practical Usage

Key Points

  • SurfSense is presented as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to NotebookLM designed for teams that want to connect any LLM to internal knowledge sources.
  • The project emphasizes collaborative, real-time chat with citations, plus a “deep agent” architecture that includes planning, subagents, and filesystem access.
  • SurfSense supports 25+ external connectors (e.g., Drive, Slack, Teams, Jira, Notion, GitHub, Discord) and works with 100+ LLMs and 6000+ embedding models via OpenAI-compatible APIs and LiteLLM.
  • The feature set covers extensive content handling, including 50+ file formats, document parsing options, podcast generation with multiple TTS providers, and capabilities like video and editable presentation generation.
  • The author is seeking contributors focused on AI agents, RAG/search, browser extensions, and open-source research tooling, with desktop and mobile apps listed as upcoming features.
Open Source Alternative to NotebookLM

For those of you who aren't familiar with SurfSense, SurfSense is an open-source alternative to NotebookLM for teams.

It connects any LLM to your internal knowledge sources, then lets teams chat, comment, and collaborate in real time. Think of it as a team-first research workspace with citations, connectors, and agentic workflows.

I’m looking for contributors. If you’re into AI agents, RAG, search, browser extensions, or open-source research tooling, would love your help.

Current features

  • Self-hostable (Docker)
  • 25+ external connectors (search engines, Drive, Slack, Teams, Jira, Notion, GitHub, Discord, and more)
  • Realtime Group Chats
  • Video generation
  • Editable presentation generation
  • Deep agent architecture (planning + subagents + filesystem access)
  • Supports 100+ LLMs and 6000+ embedding models (via OpenAI-compatible APIs + LiteLLM)
  • 50+ file formats (including Docling/local parsing options)
  • Podcast generation (multiple TTS providers)
  • Cross-browser extension to save dynamic/authenticated web pages
  • RBAC roles for teams

Upcoming features

  • Desktop & Mobile app
submitted by /u/Uiqueblhats
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