Self-Hosted Alternatives

Tired of proprietary SaaS tools locking in your data? These 50+ FOSS alternatives can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure. You own the data, you control the software, and you can switch providers whenever you want.

📦 Git & Code Hosting

Replace GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket with self-hosted options.

3 alternatives

Forgejo

GPL v3 Self-hosted

A fork of Gitea focused on community-driven development. Lightweight, fast, single binary.

Single binaryGitHub-compatible APIDocker-friendly
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Code hosting Forgejo / Gitea GitHub / GitLab.com
CI/CD Woodpecker CI GitHub Actions
Package registry Forgejo Packages GitHub Packages
Wiki & pages Built-in wiki + pages GitHub Pages + Wiki
Visit Forgejo ↗

Gitea

MIT Self-hosted

Extremely lightweight Git service. Written in Go, single binary, minimal resource usage.

Low resource usageEasy to installIssues + PRs
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Minimal RAM 128 MB GitLab EE: 4 GB min
Setup time 5 minutes 30+ minutes
Visit Gitea ↗

Sourcehut

GPL v2 Self-hosted

Minimal, email-driven Git hosting. No JavaScript required.

Email-driven workflowNo JavaScriptDeveloper-focused
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Workflow Email patches Pull requests
JS required None Heavy SPA
Visit Sourcehut ↗

📝 Productivity & Notes

Replace Notion, Confluence, Evernote. Own your knowledge base.

4 alternatives

AppFlowy

GPL v3 Self-hosted

Notion alternative built with Flutter. Documents, wikis, and databases.

Docs & wikisDatabasesCross-platform
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Knowledge base AppFlowy / Outline Notion / Confluence
Database views AppFlowy Notion databases
Mobile app AppFlowy mobile Notion mobile
Visit AppFlowy ↗

Outline

BUSL Self-hosted

Wiki and knowledge base for teams. Beautiful editor, Slack integration.

Knowledge baseSlack integrationTeam collaboration
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Real-time collab Outline Notion / Confluence
API Outline API Notion API
Visit Outline ↗

Trilium Notes

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Hierarchical note-taking for personal knowledge management.

Hierarchical notesFull-text searchRich linking
Visit Trilium Notes ↗

SiYuan

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Block-level linking knowledge base. Powerful, with mobile apps.

Block referencesMobile appsDesktop apps
Visit SiYuan ↗

💬 Communication & Chat

Replace Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams.

3 alternatives

Matrix + Element

Apache v2 Self-hosted

Decentralized chat protocol with E2E encryption. Element is the most popular client.

End-to-end encryptedFederated (like email)Video calls built-in
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Chat Matrix / Revolt Slack / Discord / Teams
Video calls Matrix + Jitsi Zoom / Google Meet
Federation Native None / vendor-locked
Visit Matrix + Element ↗

Revolt

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Discord alternative with modern UI. No tracking.

Discord-like UXNo trackingMobile-friendly
Visit Revolt ↗

Rocket.Chat

MIT Self-hosted

Full-featured team chat. Video calls, screen share, file sharing.

Team chatVideo conferencingMany integrations
Visit Rocket.Chat ↗

☁️ File Sync & Storage

Replace Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud.

4 alternatives

Nextcloud

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Most complete self-hosted cloud. Files, calendar, contacts, 200+ apps.

File sync & shareCalendar & contactsCollaborative docs
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
File sync Nextcloud / Syncthing Dropbox / Google Drive
Office docs Nextcloud + Collabora Google Docs / Office 365
Calendar Nextcloud Calendar Google Calendar
App store 200+ FOSS apps Google Workspace Marketplace
Visit Nextcloud ↗

Syncthing

MPL v2 Self-hosted

Peer-to-peer encrypted file sync. No cloud, no accounts.

Peer-to-peerNo third-party cloudAny file type
Visit Syncthing ↗

Filestash

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Web file manager connecting S3, SFTP, FTP, GitHub, Dropbox.

Multiple backendsWeb interfaceFile preview
Visit Filestash ↗

Seafile

GPL v3 Self-hosted

High-performance file sync and share with block-level dedup. Faster than Nextcloud for pure file workloads.

Block-level syncDelta syncEncrypted libraries
Visit Seafile ↗

📋 Project Management

Replace Trello, Asana, Jira, Linear.

4 alternatives

Plane

MIT Self-hosted

Linear alternative for software dev. Issue tracking, roadmaps.

Issue trackingRoadmapsFast UI
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Issue tracking Plane / Vikunja Jira / Linear / Asana
Roadmaps Plane Jira Advanced Roadmaps
Kanban Vikunja Trello
Visit Plane ↗

Vikunja

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Task management with Kanban, Gantt, CalDAV.

Kanban + listsCalDAVSelf-hostable
Visit Vikunja ↗

Leantime

GPL v2 Self-hosted

PM for small teams. Ideas, roadmaps, tickets, time tracking.

Time trackingIdea managementDashboards
Visit Leantime ↗

Taiga

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Agile project management with Scrum and Kanban. Clean UI, good for medium teams.

Scrum & KanbanEpics & user storiesWiki built-in
Visit Taiga ↗

📧 Email & Mail Servers

Replace Gmail, Outlook, ProtonMail with self-hosted or FOSS email.

3 alternatives

Mailcow

GPL v3 Self-hosted

Full email server suite with modern webmail. Docker-based, includes SOGo groupware.

Full mail stackSOGo webmailDocker deployment
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Email hosting Mailcow / Mailu Gmail / Outlook / Proton
Webmail SOGo / Roundcube Gmail / Outlook web
Calendar SOGo / Radicale Google Calendar
Visit Mailcow ↗

Mailu

MIT Self-hosted

Lightweight mail server in Docker. Easier setup than Mailcow, fewer features.

Lightweight DockerAdmin panelRoundcube webmail
Visit Mailu ↗

Stalwart

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Modern all-in-one mail server written in Rust. JMAP, IMAP, SMTP. Very fast, single binary.

JMAP + IMAP + SMTPWritten in RustSingle binary
Visit Stalwart ↗

📊 Monitoring & Observability

Replace Datadog, New Relic, Grafana Cloud.

3 alternatives

Grafana

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

The standard for dashboards and visualization. Pair with Prometheus for metrics.

DashboardsAlertingMany data sources
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Dashboards Grafana Datadog / New Relic
Metrics Prometheus + Grafana Datadog / Grafana Cloud
Logs Grafana Loki Datadog Logs / Splunk
Traces Grafana Tempo Datadog APM
Visit Grafana ↗

Prometheus

Apache v2 Self-hosted

Industry-standard metrics collection and alerting. Pairs with Grafana.

Time-series DBAlertmanagerService discovery
Visit Prometheus ↗

Uptime Kuma

MIT Self-hosted

Beautiful uptime monitoring. HTTP, TCP, DNS, Docker monitoring. Push notifications.

HTTP/TCP/DNS checksStatus pages90+ notifications
Visit Uptime Kuma ↗

💾 Backup & Disaster Recovery

Replace Backblaze, CrashPlan, AWS Backup.

3 alternatives

Restic

BSD 2-Clause Self-hosted (CLI)

Fast, secure backup program. Encryption, dedup, snapshots. Works with S3, SFTP, local, and more.

Encrypted backupsDeduplicationMany backends
Visit Restic ↗

BorgBackup

BSD 3-Clause Self-hosted (CLI)

Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption. Popular for server backups.

DeduplicationCompressionEncryption
Visit BorgBackup ↗

Kopia

Apache v2 Self-hosted

Cross-platform backup with GUI and CLI. Snapshots, encryption, cloud and local storage.

GUI + CLISnapshotsCloud + local
Visit Kopia ↗

📈 Analytics & Monitoring

Replace Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Plausible.

4 alternatives

Plausible

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Lightweight, privacy-friendly analytics. No cookies, GDPR-compliant.

Cookie-freeSimple dashboardGDPR-compliant
Compare with proprietary alternatives
Feature FOSS Proprietary
Web analytics Plausible / Umami Google Analytics / Mixpanel
Cookies None Required
GDPR Compliant by default Consent banner needed
Visit Plausible ↗

Umami

MIT Self-hosted

Simple, fast, privacy-focused analytics. Real-time dashboard.

FastNo trackingReal-time
Visit Umami ↗

Matomo

GPL v3 Self-hosted

Full-featured Google Analytics alternative. Feature-rich, WordPress integration.

Feature-richData ownershipMany integrations
Visit Matomo ↗

PostHog

MIT Self-hosted

Product analytics with events, funnels, feature flags, session replay.

ExperimentsFeature flagsFunnels
Visit PostHog ↗

🔐 Password Management

Replace 1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden.

4 alternatives

Vaultwarden

GPL v3 Self-hosted

Unofficial Bitwarden server in Rust. All Bitwarden clients compatible.

Bitwarden-compatibleWritten in RustAll Bitwarden apps
Visit Vaultwarden ↗

Pass

GPL v2 Self-hosted (CLI)

Standard Unix password manager. GPG encrypted, Git-synced.

GPG encryptedGit-syncedCLI-first
Visit Pass ↗

KeePassXC

GPL v3 Desktop

Offline-first password manager. Local vault, browser extension.

Local vaultBrowser extensionDesktop app
Visit KeePassXC ↗

Psono

Apache v2 Self-hosted

Team password manager with sharing, audit logs, E2E encryption.

Team sharingAudit logsE2E encrypted
Visit Psono ↗

🎨 Design & Creative Tools

Replace Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Canva.

3 alternatives

Penpot

MPL v2 Self-hosted

First open source design and prototyping platform. Figma alternative, SVG-native.

SVG-nativeTeam collaborationDesign + prototype
Visit Penpot ↗

Inkscape

GPL v2 Desktop

Professional vector graphics editor. Adobe Illustrator alternative.

Vector editingSVG-firstDesktop app
Visit Inkscape ↗

Excalidraw

MIT Self-hosted

Virtual whiteboard for hand-drawn diagrams. Collaborative, simple.

Hand-drawn styleCollaborativeSelf-hostable
Visit Excalidraw ↗

🎥 Video Conferencing

Replace Zoom, Google Meet, Whereby.

2 alternatives

Jitsi Meet

Apache v2 Self-hosted

Full-featured video conferencing. Screen sharing, chat, no account needed.

Video callsScreen sharingSelf-hostable
Visit Jitsi Meet ↗

Livekit

Apache v2 Self-hosted

Modern SFU-based video infrastructure. Scalable, customizable.

SFU-basedScalableCustomizable
Visit Livekit ↗

🌐 DNS & Networking

Replace Cloudflare DNS, Route53, Pi-hole managed.

3 alternatives

Pi-hole

EUPL Self-hosted

Network-wide ad blocking. DNS sinkhole for your entire network.

Ad blockingDNS dashboardDHCP server
Visit Pi-hole ↗

AdGuard Home

GPL v3 Self-hosted

Network-wide ad and tracker blocking DNS server. Modern UI, DoH/DoT support.

DNS-over-HTTPSDNS-over-TLSModern web UI
Visit AdGuard Home ↗

PowerDNS

GPL v2 Self-hosted

Authoritative and recursive DNS server. Backed by SQL, LDAP, or files.

Authoritative DNSRecursorSQL backend
Visit PowerDNS ↗

🐘 Social Media & Community

Replace Twitter/X, Reddit, Facebook Groups.

3 alternatives

Mastodon

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Decentralized microblogging. Federated via ActivityPub.

FederatedNo adsActivityPub
Visit Mastodon ↗

Lemmy

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Link aggregator and discussion. Reddit alternative, ActivityPub federation.

Link aggregationFederatedRust backend
Visit Lemmy ↗

Pixelfed

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Federated photo sharing. Instagram alternative via ActivityPub.

Photo sharingFederatedNo ads
Visit Pixelfed ↗

🤝 CRM & Customer Management

Replace Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive.

3 alternatives

Twenty

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Modern, open source CRM. Salesforce alternative with GraphQL API.

Modern UIGraphQL APIExtensible
Visit Twenty ↗

SuiteCRM

AGPL v3 Self-hosted

Full-featured CRM from SugarCRM. Sales, marketing, service.

Full CRM suiteEmail campaignsReporting
Visit SuiteCRM ↗

EspoCRM

GPL v3 Self-hosted

Lightweight, fast CRM. Clean interface, easy customization.

LightweightCustomizableMobile-friendly
Visit EspoCRM ↗

📐 CAD, GIS & Engineering

Replace AutoCAD, Civil 3D, ArcGIS, SketchUp.

4 alternatives

FreeCAD

LGPL v2 Desktop

Parametric 3D CAD for mechanical engineering, architecture, product design.

Parametric CADWorkbenchesPython API
Visit FreeCAD ↗

QGIS

GPL v2 Desktop

Professional GIS for mapping, spatial analysis, surveying.

GIS analysisSpatial dataPlugin ecosystem
Visit QGIS ↗

LibreCAD

GPL v2 Desktop

Lightweight 2D CAD for technical drawings and floor plans.

2D draftingDXF supportLightweight
Visit LibreCAD ↗

OpenProject BIM

GPL v3 Self-hosted

BIM edition for construction coordination and IFC model workflows.

BIM workflowsIFC viewerProject controls
Visit OpenProject BIM ↗

🎬 Video Editing & Media

Replace Premiere Pro, Final Cut, After Effects basics.

3 alternatives

Kdenlive

GPL v3 Desktop

Mature nonlinear video editor with proxy workflows, effects, subtitles.

NLE editorProxy editingSubtitles
Visit Kdenlive ↗

Shotcut

GPL v3 Desktop

Cross-platform video editor with wide codec support.

Wide codecsFiltersCross-platform
Visit Shotcut ↗

HandBrake

GPL v2 Desktop

Reliable video transcoder for converting and compressing.

TranscodingPresetsCLI + GUI
Visit HandBrake ↗
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