Open Source Productivity & Utilities Tools

A curated collection of the best free and open source software for getting things done on your own machine, covering notes, files, email, automation and the small utilities around them.

n8n

A fair-code platform for building AI agents and automations on a visual canvas, self-hosted or in the cloud, with more than 1500 integrations.

Alternative to:

Zapier

Visual workflow automation with code flexibility and AI agents

Stars
208,821
Forks
61,271
Last commit
16 hours ago

Browser Use

A Python library that lets an AI agent drive a real browser, opening pages, clicking, typing and filling forms from a task description.

Alternative to:

Browse AI

Let AI agents control any browser, at scale

Stars
119,332

RustDesk

A remote desktop tool written in Rust that works without configuration and lets you run your own rendezvous and relay servers.

Alternative to:

AnyDesk

Self-hosted remote desktop you fully control

Stars
127,327

LocalSend

Cross-platform app for sending files and messages to nearby devices over your local network, with no internet and no third-party server.

Alternative to:

AirDrop

Share files securely across all devices without servers

Stars
96,098

Mole

Free command line toolkit for macOS that cleans caches, uninstalls apps with their leftovers, maps disk usage and shows live system stats.

Alternative to:

AppCleaner

Mac cleaner, app manager, and system monitor in one

Stars
73,120
Forks
2,578

AppFlowy

AI workspace for notes, wikis and projects that keeps your data on your own machine or server, an alternative to Notion.

Alternative to:

Notion

AI workspace for docs, projects, and wikis you control

Stars
77,846

Ladybird

Independent web browser built on a new engine written from scratch, currently pre-alpha and suitable only for developers.

Alternative to:

Google Chrome

An independent browser engine built from scratch, not a fork

Stars
66,728

Affine

An all-in-one workspace merging documents, whiteboards and databases, built local-first for teams that want to own their knowledge base.

Alternative to:

Notion

Docs, whiteboards, and databases in one privacy-first workspace

Stars
73,918

OBS Studio

Free and open source software for capturing, compositing, encoding, recording and streaming video, used by streamers and anyone recording a screen.

Alternative to:

Bandicam

Free, open-source software for video recording and live streaming

Stars
78,414

Memos

A self-hosted home for short notes, links and work logs, arranged as a chronological Markdown timeline you fully control.

Alternative to:

Evernote

Self-hosted timeline for quick notes, logs, and snippets

Stars
64,127

Maybe

A Rails personal finance app you host yourself, tracking net worth, budgets and transactions for a whole household.

Alternative to:

Monarch Money

Self hosted personal finance app for your whole household

Stars
54,211

Penpot

A design and prototyping platform for product teams, self-hostable and built on open web standards rather than a proprietary format.

Alternative to:

Framer

Open-source UI design and prototyping for product teams

Stars
61,766

Joplin

An offline-first note and to-do app in Markdown, synced with end-to-end encryption across desktop, mobile and the cloud you choose.

Alternative to:

Evernote

Encrypted note-taking that syncs across all your devices

Stars
56,910

Puter

A self-hostable desktop environment in the browser, with everyday apps for users and cloud, AI and storage APIs for developers.

Alternative to:

Dropbox

A full desktop environment that runs in your browser

Stars
43,937

Tldraw

A React SDK for building infinite canvas apps, shipping a whiteboard out of the box and custom shapes when you need them.

Alternative to:

Miro

Free instant whiteboard with real-time collaboration

Stars
51,120

Zen Browser

A Firefox-based browser built around workspaces, split view and a compact interface, aimed at people who keep too many tabs open.

Alternative to:

Google Chrome

Privacy-focused browser with powerful customization

Stars
45,372

Open-Notebook

A self-hosted research notebook and Notebook LM alternative for people who want to pick their own AI models and keep sources private.

Alternative to:

NotebookLM

AI-powered research notebook with full privacy control

Stars
40,648

SiYuan

Privacy-first knowledge management app built on content blocks, with Markdown WYSIWYG editing, two-way links and local or Docker hosted storage.

Alternative to:

Notion

Privacy-first knowledge management with block-level linking

Stars
46,971

Logseq

Privacy-first outliner for knowledge management and collaboration, storing notes as local Markdown or Org-mode files you keep control of.

Alternative to:

Notion

Privacy-first knowledge base that connects your notes

Stars
45,404

Handy

Offline speech-to-text desktop app where you hold a shortcut, speak, and the transcription lands in whatever text field has focus.

Alternative to:

Aqua Voice

Press a key, speak, release. Text appears instantly.

Stars
34,928

Novu

Open-source communication infrastructure that sends product notifications and connects agents to Inbox, email, SMS, push, chat and messaging channels.

Alternative to:

OneSignal

Multi-channel notification infrastructure for apps

Stars
40,214

Fincept Terminal

Native C++ desktop terminal for financial research, aimed at students, hobbyists and academics working with market data and AI agents.

Alternative to:

Bloomberg Terminal

Open-source financial terminal for data-driven insights

Stars
33,211

Lightpanda

Headless browser written from scratch in Zig for AI agents and automation, using far less memory than headless Chrome.

Alternative to:

Anchor Browser

Fast, AI-native web browser built for automation and scraping

Stars
37,072

Spacedrive

Cross-device file manager that indexes local disks, clouds and external sources into one searchable library synced directly between your machines.

Alternative to:

ForkLift

Your personal distributed filesystem

Stars
39,317

Nextcloud

Self-hosted platform for files, contacts and calendars, giving organizations and individuals a place to store and share data on their own server.

Alternative to:

Dropbox

Secure cloud collaboration platform for organizations

Stars
37,321

Khoj

Personal AI app that searches your documents and the web, running on your own machine or scaling to a team deployment.

Alternative to:

ChatGPT

AI second brain for research, automation, and personal agents

Stars
37,858

Outline

Team knowledge base built with React and Node.js, for groups that want a fast wiki they can host themselves.

Alternative to:

Notion

Fast, collaborative wiki for teams who need organized docs

Stars
41,088

ShareX

Windows screen capture, recording and file sharing tool that chains annotation, upload and link copying into one hotkey workflow.

Alternative to:

Bandicam

Powerful screen capture and file sharing tool for Windows

Stars
40,465

Ntfy

A self-hostable pub-sub notification service that sends alerts to your phone or desktop from any script using plain HTTP requests.

Alternative to:

Pushbullet

Simple, fast, and secure push notifications for all

Stars
35,124

Karakeep

A self-hosted bookmarking app for links, notes, images and PDFs, with automatic AI tagging, full page archival and mobile clients.

Alternative to:

Raindrop.io

Save links, notes, and images. AI tags them for you.

Stars
30,105

Actual

A local-first envelope budgeting app you own end to end, syncing across devices and running on your desktop or your own server.

Alternative to:

Monarch Money

Local-first envelope budgeting with full data ownership

Stars
29,817

ActivePieces

Extensible automation platform and Zapier replacement where every integration is a typed TypeScript package that doubles as an MCP server.

Alternative to:

Zapier

Automate workflows with no-code integration platform

Stars
25,255

Cap

Screen recorder with local editing, instant share links and storage you control, for teams sending async video instead of meetings.

Alternative to:

Loom

Open source screen recorder with editing and instant sharing

Stars
23,960

Skyvern

Browser automation driven by vision models, for teams whose scraping and form filling scripts break every time a website changes.

Alternative to:

Browse AI

Automate any website workflow with AI and computer vision

Stars
23,288

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Open Source Productivity & Utilities Tools

A curated collection of the best free and open source software for getting things done on your own machine, covering notes, files, email, automation and the small utilities around them.

n8n

Browser Use

RustDesk

LocalSend

Mole

AppFlowy

Ladybird

Affine

OBS Studio

Memos

Maybe

Penpot

Joplin

Puter

Tldraw

Zen Browser

Open-Notebook

SiYuan

Logseq

Handy

Novu

Fincept Terminal

Lightpanda

Spacedrive

Nextcloud

Khoj

Outline

ShareX

Ntfy

Karakeep

Actual

ActivePieces

Cap

Skyvern

n8n

Browser Use

RustDesk

LocalSend

Mole

AppFlowy

Ladybird

Affine

OBS Studio

Memos

Maybe

Penpot

Joplin

Puter

Tldraw

Zen Browser

Open-Notebook

SiYuan

Logseq

Handy

Novu

Fincept Terminal

Lightpanda

Spacedrive

Nextcloud

Khoj

Outline

ShareX

Ntfy

Karakeep

Actual

ActivePieces

Cap

Skyvern

Excalidraw