os-alt

self-host the SaaS you're paying for

← all SaaS

MIT

65 self-hostable open-source tools licensed under MIT · across 47 categories

The most permissive widely-used license. You can modify, redistribute, and commercialize, including in closed-source products, as long as the original copyright notice and the license text travel with the source.

One-line plain-English summary above — not legal advice. Confirm with the project's LICENSE file before commercial use.

AI chat assistant (consumer UI)

  • LibreChat alive ★ 37.0k replaces ChatGPT
    20min docker-compose (LibreChat + Mongo + Meilisearch) · $10-15 VPS for the app stack; same model-server caveat as Open WebUI.

API client / HTTP request testing

  • Bruno alive ★ 43.8k replaces Insomnia +1
    5min installer (desktop app) · $0 — collections live as files in a folder; sync via git, no central server.
  • Hoppscotch alive ★ 79.2k replaces Insomnia +1
    20min docker-compose (Hoppscotch + Postgres + admin dashboard) · $5-10 VPS; can also run as static frontend with no backend if you don't need team sync.
  • HTTPie Desktop dead ★ 3.94k replaces Insomnia
    5min installer · $0 desktop app; no cloud requirement.

App platform / git-push deploy

  • Dokku alive ★ 31.9k replaces Heroku
    15min (single-line install on a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 VPS) · $5 VPS for small apps; scale the box as you grow.

Backend-as-a-service (auth + DB + storage + realtime)

  • Pocketbase alive ★ 58.3k replaces Firebase +1
    5min — single Go binary + SQLite · $5 VPS handles low-to-medium traffic; SQLite + WAL is surprisingly far-reaching.

Cloud development environment

Community / forum hosting

Customer support helpdesk / shared inbox

  • Chatwoot alive ★ 29.2k replaces Help Scout +2
    30min docker-compose (Rails + Postgres + Redis + Sidekiq) · $10/mo VPS for a small team; Postgres + Redis are the core ops surface.
  • UVdesk stale ★ 18.6k replaces Help Scout
    30min docker-compose (Symfony + MySQL) · $5-10/mo VPS.

Design / collaborative vector editor

  • Excalidraw alive ★ 123.2k replaces Figma +1
    10min (static site + optional collab server) · $5 VPS for the collab/sync backend.

Documentation hosting / knowledge base

  • Docusaurus alive ★ 64.9k replaces GitBook
    10min `npx create-docusaurus` · $0-5 — Docusaurus builds static HTML; deploy free on Vercel/Netlify/Cloudflare Pages, or $3/mo VPS with nginx.

Ecommerce platform

  • Medusa alive ★ 33.0k replaces Shopify
    20min (Node.js + Postgres + Redis) · $10-20 VPS for early-stage stores; pricing scales with payment-provider fees, not platform.

Error tracking / APM

  • GlitchTip dead ★ 1 replaces Sentry
    15min docker-compose · $5 VPS — Django + Postgres + Redis, very efficient.

Feature flags / progressive delivery

Frontend hosting / serverless deploy

  • OpenNext unknown ★ — replaces Vercel
    15min (build adapter; deploy target is your choice) · $0 framework cost; pay for whatever cloud you target (AWS, Cloudflare, etc.).

Git hosting + Pipelines

  • Forgejo unknown ★ — replaces Bitbucket +2
    10min (Gitea-compatible docker images) · $5 VPS.
  • Gitea alive ★ 55.7k replaces Bitbucket +2
    10min (single Go binary or docker-compose) · $5 VPS handles dozens of repos comfortably.
  • GitLab CE alive ★ 24.3k replaces Bitbucket +2
    30-60min (Omnibus package) · $20+ VPS — wants 8GB RAM.

Headless CMS

  • Payload CMS alive ★ 42.4k replaces Contentful
    10min `npx create-payload-app` + Postgres or MongoDB · $10/mo VPS.
  • Strapi alive ★ 72.2k replaces Contentful
    10min `npx create-strapi-app` + Postgres · $10/mo VPS for the app; Postgres on the same box for small projects.

Identity / SSO / authentication-as-a-service

  • Authentik alive ★ 21.5k replaces Auth0
    15min docker-compose · $10 VPS — Python + Postgres + Redis stack.

Image / video CDN + on-the-fly transformation

  • imgproxy alive ★ 10.7k replaces Cloudinary
    5min docker run · $5-15/mo VPS for the proxy; storage and CDN bill separately.
  • Thumbor alive ★ 10.5k replaces Cloudinary
    10min docker run · $5-15/mo VPS.

Kanban / project boards

  • Kanboard alive ★ 9.58k replaces Trello
    10min (PHP + SQLite/MySQL) · $5 VPS — very low footprint.
  • Wekan alive ★ 20.9k replaces Trello
    15min docker-compose (Mongo + Wekan) · $10 VPS — Mongo is the heavier process.

Link-in-bio landing page

  • BioDrop dead · archived ★ 5.71k replaces Linktree
    15min docker-compose (Next.js + MongoDB) · $10 VPS for the Node stack + MongoDB.
  • LittleLink stale ★ 2.95k replaces Linktree
    5min — clone the repo, edit `index.html`, deploy as a static site · $0 — host on Vercel / Netlify / Cloudflare Pages free tier or any static host.

Live streaming + chat

  • Owncast alive ★ 11.2k replaces Twitch +1
    10min single-binary or docker run · $10-20/mo VPS; outbound bandwidth scales with concurrent viewers (~1.5GB/hr per HD viewer).

LLM inference API

  • LiteLLM alive ★ 46.9k replaces OpenAI API
    15min docker-compose (proxy + Postgres for usage logs) · $5 VPS for the proxy itself; the underlying model server (Ollama / vLLM / OpenAI passthrough) is the real cost line.
  • Ollama alive ★ 171.4k replaces OpenAI API
    5min single binary · Free on a workstation with a 16GB+ GPU; ~$200/mo for an A10/RTX 4090 cloud GPU; CPU-only works for 7B models but is too slow for production.

Machine translation API

  • Argos Translate alive ★ 5.98k replaces DeepL
    5min `pip install argostranslate` + download models · $0 on a workstation; ~$10/mo for a small VPS for batch jobs.
  • OPUS-MT (Marian NMT) alive ★ 813 replaces DeepL
    30min — pull Marian + a model from Hugging Face · $15-50/mo VPS — Marian is C++ and fast, but GPU helps for throughput.

Meeting transcription / AI notes

  • Briefing (Buzz / Speaches) alive ★ 19.2k replaces Otter.ai
    5min installer or `pip install buzz-captions` · $0 desktop; ~$50/mo cloud GPU if you run a server.
  • Vibe (Whisper desktop) alive ★ 6.13k replaces Otter.ai
    5min installer (desktop app) · $0 — runs on your laptop.
  • Whisper.cpp alive ★ 49.7k replaces Otter.ai
    20min — clone, build, test on a sample WAV · $0 on a workstation; ~$50/mo for a cloud GPU box if running batch transcription regularly.

Mesh VPN / zero-config networking

  • Innernet alive ★ 5.48k replaces Tailscale
    20min (single Rust binary per host) · $5 VPS for the coordination server.

Notes / wiki / docs

  • AFFiNE alive ★ 68.4k replaces Notion
    20min docker-compose · $5-10 VPS for a small team; single Postgres + the AFFiNE server image.

Observability (metrics + logs + traces + APM)

  • SigNoz alive ★ 26.9k replaces Datadog +2
    20min docker-compose · $20 VPS (4GB RAM minimum) for a small fleet; ClickHouse is the heavy part.

On-call rotation / incident response / paging

  • Cabot unknown ★ — replaces PagerDuty
    20min docker-compose (Cabot + Postgres) · $5 VPS; SMS via Twilio at the usual per-leg rate.
  • Keep alive ★ 11.8k replaces PagerDuty
    30min docker-compose (keep-frontend + keep-backend + websocket-server; SQLite default, swap to Postgres via `DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING`) · $10-20 VPS; SMS/voice via Twilio at the usual per-leg rate ($0.0075-0.05/leg).

Personal finance / budget tracking

  • Actual Budget alive ★ 26.4k replaces Mint
    10min docker run (sync server) + desktop app · $3-5/mo VPS for the sync server; desktop and mobile apps are free.

Photo backup / library / face search

  • LibrePhotos alive ★ 7.98k replaces Google Photos
    20min docker-compose · $10 VPS (face recognition + scene classification want some RAM); storage as above.

Privacy-first web analytics

  • Umami alive ★ 36.6k replaces Fathom Analytics +1
    10min docker-compose (Next.js + Postgres or MySQL) · $5/mo VPS — Postgres-based, very light.

Product analytics / event tracking / funnels

  • PostHog alive ★ 34.5k replaces Amplitude +2
    20min docker-compose (the official `hobby` deploy is one command) · $20-40 VPS — ClickHouse + Postgres + Kafka + Redis + the app; demanding stack but absorbs serious event volume.

Public status page / incident communication

Read-it-later / web article archive

  • Linkding alive ★ 10.6k replaces Pocket +1
    5min single-container docker run · $3-5 VPS; SQLite by default — extremely light.
  • Wallabag alive ★ 12.7k replaces Pocket
    20min docker-compose (PHP/Symfony app + MariaDB) · $5 VPS for a personal install; storage is tiny (text + thumbnails).

Sales CRM / pipeline management

  • Krayin alive ★ 22.5k replaces Pipedrive
    20min docker-compose (Laravel + MySQL) · $5/mo VPS.

Search-as-a-service

  • Meilisearch alive ★ 57.6k replaces Algolia +1
    5min (single Rust binary or docker run) · $5 VPS handles a few million records; $20+ once you push into 50M+ documents.

Session replay + product analytics

  • RRWeb (DIY) alive ★ 19.6k replaces FullStory
    2h — script install + ingest endpoint + storage + replay UI · $5+ VPS plus storage — variable based on traffic.

Small business accounting

Social media scheduling + analytics

  • Mixpost alive ★ 3.23k replaces Buffer
    20min docker run (Laravel + MySQL + Redis) · $5-10/mo VPS; Pro license is one-time ~$200, no recurring.

Spreadsheet / lightweight database

  • Baserow alive ★ 4.82k replaces Airtable
    15min docker-compose · $10 VPS — Postgres + Redis + their stack.

Team chat + video meetings

  • Rocket.Chat alive ★ 45.3k replaces Microsoft Teams +1
    20min docker-compose (Node + MongoDB) · $10/mo VPS; MongoDB needs RAM and growing index space.

Team wiki / documentation

  • BookStack alive ★ 18.8k replaces Confluence +1
    10min docker-compose · $5 VPS — PHP + MySQL, very light footprint.

Transactional email API

  • Haraka alive ★ 5.56k replaces SendGrid
    1h (Haraka is a framework — you wire plugins for your routing rules) · $5 VPS; you compose Haraka with your own Node plugins, so cost is whatever you build.
  • Postal alive ★ 16.5k replaces SendGrid
    30min docker-compose (Postal + MariaDB + RabbitMQ) · $5-10 VPS for the server itself; deliverability matters more than cost — most setups relay through Amazon SES at $0.10 / 1k emails to keep IP reputation clean.

Visual website builder + CMS

  • Plasmic alive ★ 6.79k replaces Webflow
    20min docker-compose · $10 VPS for the studio.

Website builder + hosting

  • Ghost alive ★ 52.8k replaces Squarespace +1
    20min docker-compose (Ghost + MySQL + nginx) · $10/mo VPS + Mailgun/Resend for member emails (~$10/mo for 50k sends).

Work management / project boards

Workflow automation / iPaaS

  • Activepieces alive ★ 22.2k replaces Zapier
    10min docker-compose · $5-10 VPS — Node.js + Postgres + Redis stack.
  • Huginn alive ★ 49.3k replaces Zapier
    20min (Rails app + Postgres) · $5 VPS.

Writing assistant / grammar + style checker

  • Vale alive ★ 5.38k replaces Grammarly
    10min — single Go binary + a styles directory · $0 — local binary; CI cost only if you run it in pipelines.