SurfSense

Overview of SurfSense

What it is

SurfSense is a free, open-source desktop application that functions as an air-gapped, privacy-focused alternative to NotebookLM. It is an AI agent that researches, transforms, and edits documents on the user's machine without requiring an account. The index is stored locally, and users can choose between local or remote AI models.

Key features

• Runs fully offline or air-gapped; documents do not leave the machine unless a remote model is selected.
• Supports research (cited answers), creation, editing (as a copy), and transformation for formats including PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), PowerPoint (.pptx), CSV, images (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, WebP), Markdown, plain text, HTML, podcast audio, and more.
• PDF tools include fill and flatten forms, stamp watermarks, page numbers, headers, footers, and page manipulation (merge, split, extract, rotate, reorder).
• Word editing supports tracked changes and comments; Excel supports formulas and native charts; PowerPoint supports text replacement and slide management.
• OCR for Latin, Chinese, and Japanese scripts on scanned PDFs and images.
• Edits, conversions, and PDF tools always create a new file; the original file is never modified.

Use cases

SurfSense is suitable for users who need to interact with sensitive documents that cannot be uploaded to cloud services. It can be used for research with cited answers, document creation from templates, editing with tracked changes, and converting files between formats, all while maintaining data privacy through local processing.

Getting started

1. Install SurfSense and do the initial onboarding setup.2. Drop your files or folders in your sources.3. Ask the agent to search or extract or edit your files.

License and pricing

SurfSense is licensed under Apache-2.0. It is free and open source.

Based on the project's public README and repository metadata.