Best Self-hosted Notes & Personal Knowledge Management tools in 2026

Open-source on‑prem app that connects to healthcare providers and aggregates FHIR medical records into a private personal/family dashboard.

Lightweight, privacy-focused self-hosted Markdown notes app with wikilinks, graph view, tags, templates, search, Mermaid diagrams, LaTeX math, and optional password protection.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

Notion+19

Self-hostable note-taking and knowledge base app with an extended Markdown editor, fast search, tagging, workspaces, sharing permissions, exports, and offline PWA support.

MITActively maintained

Alternative to:

Notion+19

Zim is a desktop wiki editor for personal notes, journals, and task lists, storing pages as plain text files with links, attachments, and plugin support.

GPL-2.0Actively maintained

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Microsoft OneNote+12

Lightweight self-hosted web app for managing checklists and Markdown notes with file-based storage, PGP encryption, REST API and Docker deployment.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Evernote+13

Minimal, local-first markdown note-taking app built with Svelte and Tailwind; provides desktop (Tauri) and web interfaces with local PGlite storage.

AGPL-3.0Slowing down

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Standard Notes+11

Open-source self-hosted app to manage, track and journal houseplants with locations, tasks, inventory, calendar, reminders, group chat and plant identification.

MITActively maintained

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Planta+2

Open-source, self-hosted watched list to track movies, TV series, anime, and optionally video games, with accounts, ratings, discovery, and personal stats.

Self-hosted assisted reading app for language learners with built-in dictionaries, vocabulary tracking, and review workflows, including Anki integration.

GPL-3.0Slowing down

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AnkiWeb+2

Open-source Rust-based CLI to parse, scale, search, import and serve Cooklang recipes; generates shopping lists, reports, and a browsable web UI.

MITActively maintained

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Paprika Recipe Manager+6

Koillection is a self-hosted web app to catalog and manage collections like books, games, DVDs, stamps, and other physical items with custom fields and metadata.

MITActively maintained

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Memento Database+6

bewCloud is a modern, lightweight alternative to Nextcloud/ownCloud for managing files, photos, notes and news in a simple web interface.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Google Drive+19

Self-hosted private journaling app with mood tracking, prompt-based writing, media uploads, analytics, and powerful search for full data ownership.

Actively maintained

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Day One+8

Zen is a minimal self-hosted notes app that stores notes as Markdown with a local SQLite database, featuring fast full-text search, tagging, templates, and low resource usage.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Evernote+15

Track runs, rides, and other outdoor workouts on your own server, with GPX imports, maps, and activity statistics in a modern web interface.

A minimalist, fast in-browser text editor with live Markdown preview, optional LaTeX/Math rendering, and export/print to PDF—runs fully offline with no server.

Likely dormant

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Typora+4

Self-hosted platform for managing cocktail recipes, ingredients inventory, bars, menus, and shopping lists, with powerful filtering, import/export, and an API.

MITActively maintained

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Paprika Recipe Manager+5

Self-hosted Markdown note-taking web app with multi-user vaults, real-time collaboration, fast search, templates, backlinks/tags, PDF export, and PWA support.

MITActively maintained

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Notion+19

A self-hostable collaborative recipe manager with web import, meal planning, and shared shopping lists in a mobile-friendly PWA.

Actively maintained

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Paprika Recipe Manager+8

Privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted note-taking app with desktop, mobile and web clients, open-source code, web clipper, bidirectional links, and a self-hostable sync server.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Evernote+12

Open-source, self-hosted note-taking and documentation app with rich text & Markdown editors, search, attachments, workspaces, REST API and OIDC support.

MITActively maintained

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Notion+19

Note Mark is a fast, minimal web-based Markdown notes app with a responsive UI, notebook sharing, attachments, and optional OIDC single sign-on.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Simplenote+9

Nextcloud Notes is a distraction-free note-taking app with Markdown support, favorites, and a REST API. Notes are stored as files in your Nextcloud for easy syncing.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Simplenote+15

Self-hosted Google Keep–style notes app built with Vite + React and an Express + SQLite API. Supports Markdown, checklists, images, PWA, collaboration and Docker deployment.

MITSlowing down

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Google Keep+10

Self-hosted web-based amateur radio logging app for QSOs, LoTW uploads, award tracking, and integrations with CAT and digital-mode tools.

MITActively maintained

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DXLab Suite+1

Encrypted diary and journal web app with client-side encryption, markdown editor, file uploads, searchable entries, multi-user accounts and PWA support.

MITActively maintained

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Day One+11

Self-hosted read-it-later/news-reading platform that saves articles offline, organizes with categories, and integrates with external services via webhooks.

AGPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Pocket+12

Plainpad is a lightweight self-hosted note-taking app built with PHP and Laravel. It encrypts notes before storage, supports multiple users, and provides an offline-capable PWA.

GPL-3.0Actively maintained

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Evernote+9

Open-source real-time note-taking and todo app with WYSIWYG editor, JWT auth, role-based access control, and import/export capabilities.

GPL-3.0Slowing down

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Evernote+9

Recipya is a simple recipe manager for collecting, importing and organizing recipes into cookbooks, digitizing paper recipes, converting units, and calculating nutrition.

GPL-3.0Actively maintained

Alternative to:

Paprika Recipe Manager+6