SurfSense

SurfSense is an open-source NotebookLM alternative that turns documents into cited answers and editable deliverables on your computer. It's a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux, aimed at people working with confidential files, research or study material. You don't need an account.

With local models, it works offline after the initial model downloads. Documents, the search index and generated outputs stay on your machine. Ollama comes bundled, and small language models can run on a laptop CPU without a GPU. You can use Qwen or Llama locally, connect an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or choose hosted models from OpenAI and Anthropic with your own key. Hosted models require an internet connection and send model requests to the chosen provider.

The app answers questions across your documents and cites the sources behind each answer. It can turn those same sources into editable PowerPoint decks, Word reports, spreadsheets or PDFs. For study, it produces flashcards, quizzes with citations and mind maps. It also creates standalone web pages, illustrations and infographics.

Podcasts use two voices synthesised locally with Kokoro-82M. Text, audio and image generation can all run on your hardware once the required models are downloaded. Outputs share the local database with your source material.

SurfSense is Apache-licensed, supports reproducible desktop builds and includes no telemetry. Outbound connections are disabled by default, and an egress panel lets you choose which destinations the app can contact.