Safari

Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Safari

A curated collection of the 1 best self hosted alternatives to Safari.

Safari is Apple’s web browser for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. It renders pages with WebKit, manages tabs, extensions and Reading List, offers privacy protections and tracking prevention, and integrates with iCloud Keychain and Apple Pay for sync and credentials.

Alternatives List

#1
Elysian

Elysian

Elysian is a self-hosted Node.js service with a browser extension that backs up and syncs bookmarks from your browser's bookmarks toolbar to a home lab, with Docker deployment support.

Elysian is a self-hosted tool that syncs bookmarks from your browser's bookmarks toolbar to a server in your home lab. It ships with a browser extension that imports/exports the toolbar bookmarks and keeps the server-side copy updated when you create, reorder, update, or delete bookmarks. (github.com)

Key Features

  • Focused backup of bookmarks that live on the browser bookmarks toolbar (not a full archival bookmark manager). (github.com)
  • Browser extension enables import/export and propagates create/re-order/update/delete actions from the browser to the server. (github.com)
  • Node.js/Express backend and npm-based codebase (JavaScript). (github.com)
  • Dockerfile and docker-compose provided for containerized deployment to a home lab. (github.com)
  • Lightweight, designed as a personal project to learn structuring JavaScript code and automate bookmark backups. (reddit.com)

Use Cases

  • Keep a server-side backup of frequently used toolbar bookmarks outside browser vendor sync systems. (github.com)
  • Run a minimal bookmark-sync endpoint in a home lab or NAS using Docker. (github.com)
  • Learn and test a small Node.js/Express + extension integration and containerized deployment workflow. (github.com)

Limitations and Considerations

  • Browser support is limited: a Firefox extension is noted as "coming soon," indicating the extension currently targets Chromium-family browsers. (github.com)
  • Not designed as a full-featured archival bookmark manager; it targets the bookmarks toolbar and regular-use items rather than whole-tree archival. (github.com)
  • Lacks a polished server-side GUI (listed as a future enhancement), so administration is currently more developer-oriented. (github.com)

Elysian provides a focused, minimal approach to keeping toolbar bookmarks backed up to a self-hosted environment, packaged for Docker and implemented in JavaScript/Express. It is suitable for users who prefer a lightweight, home-lab-managed bookmark sync and for developers experimenting with browser-extension to backend sync patterns. (github.com)

55stars
1forks

Why choose an open source alternative?

  • Data ownership: Keep your data on your own servers
  • No vendor lock-in: Freedom to switch or modify at any time
  • Cost savings: Reduce or eliminate subscription fees
  • Transparency: Audit the code and know exactly what's running