SurfSense

️ Tool Name: 🖼
SurfSense

Tool Category: 🔖
Open source alternative to NotebookLM and Perplexity, AI-powered customizable AI research agent

️ What does this tool offer? ✏
SurfSense allows you to create a customized intelligent research assistant similar to the NotebookLM or Perplexity experience, but in a completely open source way. You can upload your own files (more than 50 types of extensions), save them to a local knowledge base, and then have natural language conversations with them to get answers backed by sources. It connects to a large number of platforms such as Notion, Slack, GitHub, Linear, YouTube and more. SurfSense supports integration with search engines like Tavily and LinkUp, uses advanced RAG technologies, and works locally with LLMs like Ollama to protect privacy. In addition, it offers the ability to generate a quick podcast (audio/video) within seconds of any conversation, using TTS from OpenAI, Azure, or Vertex AI.

What does the tool actually deliver based on user experience? ⭐
It provides an efficient and seamless experience in dealing with local or external knowledge sources, with deep search capabilities that combine semantic and textual understanding, delivering accurate results backed by references. Users appreciate its ability to save their data locally and run without the need for the cloud, as well as the flexibility to customize and correlate data from multiple sources.

Does it include automation? 🤖
Yes, SurfSense supports full automation in uploading, saving, analyzing, searching, and automatically generating answers or audio/visual content using artificial intelligence (AI) and Reinforced Augmented Retrieval (RAG) techniques.

Pricing Model: 💰
The tool is completely free and open source, licensed under Apache 2.0, allowing use, modification, and deployment without any financial restrictions.

🆓 Free Plan Details:
Completely free
All features are available without registration
No credit card or subscription required
Can be installed and run completely locally

Paid Plan Details: 💳
There is no paid plan - the tool is 100% free with no subscriptions.

Access Method: 🧭
Runs locally via Docker or by manual installation using configuration files like PGVector, Unstructured.io or LlamaCloud API keys, and sometimes Google OAuth; backend files, web interface, and plugins are available ready to use.

Experience Link: 🔗
https://github.com/0surf/surfsense