open-source alternative – Open Notebook closely mirrors NotebookLM’s core experience, but it’s an open-source system you configure yourself—meaning your data doesn’t sit on Google’s servers. The trade-off is real: installation can be painful, audio summaries are shorter by default, and
When you want the NotebookLM-style experience—upload sources, ask questions, get summaries—but you’d rather not send your research to Google, Open Notebook lands like a tempting door that leads to a different kind of work.
Open Notebook is described as “virtually a clone” of NotebookLM’s core functionality. including the ability to turn your uploaded material into audio outputs. ask questions about your research sources. and do more with what you’ve collected. The pitch is straightforward: Open Notebook is open-source, and you configure it yourself. That’s where the privacy story starts—and where the frustrations begin.
Before you even get to features, the big difference is how the system lives. With Open Notebook. the article says you can run it locally using a model like Ollama. or connect it to cloud-based AI models including GPT. Gemini Pro. Opus. and more. It’s also set up so you can switch between models, meaning you aren’t forced into one fixed provider.
There’s another promise baked into the open-source approach: “your data is truly secure in a way that NotebookLM isn’t,” because Open Notebook can be run without your research sitting on a Google server.
There’s also a practical limit contrast. The piece says Open Notebook has “no limits” on how many notebooks you can create or how many sources you can use. By comparison, it says the free version of NotebookLM limits you to 100 notebooks with no more than 50 sources each.
Still, the convenience trade doesn’t disappear. If you run Open Notebook using cloud-based models, it will “burn up token limits,” the article warns—so you don’t escape usage constraints entirely just because the tool is open-source.
What Open Notebook does well—and what it doesn’t—shows up fast once you try to use it like a daily assistant. The core features are presented as broadly similar: you upload sources from PDFs to YouTube videos and “everything in between. ” and then Open Notebook synthesizes the information into audio. quizzes. or lets you chat with it.
The standout feature difference comes through audio. Open Notebook can use “up to four speaking voices” for audio summaries. while NotebookLM’s option is described as a “two-voice option.” But the audio output isn’t automatically better. The article says audio breakdowns are usually much shorter by default—often just “a few minutes” instead of NotebookLM’s “8-15 minute cap.”.
You can adjust the audio length up to “30 minutes or more,” but the writer says the quality still didn’t feel as sharp. They say they tested a few different models and still felt NotebookLM had stronger breakdowns.
Even after you get the service running. Open Notebook doesn’t behave like a typical app you can pick up instantly. The article says you’ll need a core PC or your own cloud setup running before you can use it on other devices like Android. It also says there’s no native app—so you have to use a web browser.
The setup experience is where the frustration turns from inconvenience into a time sink. The writer says Open Notebook isn’t plug-and-play. Installing it manually on a Chromebook. they report. was “a massive pain. ” taking “two tries and several hours.” On Windows. they found it easier with Docker Desktop. with setup taking about “half an hour. ” but they still describe it as requiring DIY knowledge and troubleshooting.
Trying it yourself starts with Docker Desktop. The article lays out the next step as obtaining an API key from your chosen provider, with the exact process varying.
It then emphasizes that the official starting guide is “out of date in several areas,” and walks through a cloud model setup using a configuration file.
The provided example configuration includes a SurrealDB service and an Open Notebook service in a docker-compose.yml structure. It specifies a SurrealDB image of surrealdb/surrealdb:v2. a command that starts with user root and pass password. and binds the service to 0.0.0.0:8000. It also includes ports mapping 8000 to 8000, and a volume mapping from ./surreal_data to /mydata. The file removes the healthcheck because the v2 image is “too minimal to run wget/curl.”.
For Open Notebook, the example uses the image lfnovo/open_notebook:v1-latest. It maps ports 8502 for the Web UI and 5055 for the API. and sets environment variables including OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY=change-me-to-a-secret-string. plus SURREAL_URL=ws://surrealdb:8000/rpc. SURREAL_USER=root. SURREAL_PASSWORD=password. SURREAL_NAMESPACE=open_notebook. and SURREAL_DATABASE=open_notebook. It also maps a ./notebook_data volume into /app/data. The example includes depends_on: surrealdb and restarts always for both services.
From there, the steps are specific and hands-on: create the configuration file using Notepad, paste the configuration, edit change-me-to-a-secret-string to replace it with a phrase of your choice, and save it as docker-compose.yml inside a folder called Open Notebook.
After Docker Desktop starts. the writer instructs opening File Explorer. navigating to the Open Notebook folder. right-clicking. choosing “Open in terminal. ” and entering docker compose up -d. The services should begin in about “15 seconds. ” and Open Notebook becomes accessible in a browser by typing in an address bar (the exact text in the source is left blank in the provided snippet).
Once in the Open Notebook UI, the writer says you’re still not finished. You need to go to Manage > Models, find your preferred AI company in the list, and click Add Configuration. A box appears asking for a configuration name and the API Key; after entering both, you click Add Configuration.
There’s also a Test button beside the new configuration. Clicking it checks the connection. The writer says you must specify which model to use for chat. embedding. and transformations—the last of which the article says refers to the process used to create reflections. table of contents. audio summaries. and more.
After that, you can create a new Notebook under the New tab, add sources, and try the Transformation capabilities. The writer still cautions that you’ll need to configure podcasts settings and a few other things, but they don’t detail those for brevity.
So is Open Notebook a better choice than NotebookLM? The answer in the piece comes down to what you’re willing to trade.
Open Notebook could be worth the effort for people who want the NotebookLM-like experience without having their data sit on a Google server. or for those who prefer a model that isn’t based around Gemini technology. For everyone else. the writer says NotebookLM remains a better performer that’s easier to start with—and can be improved further with a NotebookLM Pro or Plus upgrade.
In other words: Open Notebook doesn’t just change where your data goes. It also changes how much work you have to do yourself—setup first, then the reward is an experience that looks familiar, but feels more controlled.
Open Notebook NotebookLM alternative open-source AI privacy local AI Ollama Docker Desktop GPT Gemini Pro Opus audio summaries PDFs YouTube sources token limits Android web access