kotaemon vs Open Notebook
Short answer
kotaemon: Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG. Open Notebook: Private, self-hosted alternative to Google NotebookLM with your choice of AI models. Both are in our Knowledge base & RAG category.
Choose kotaemon if you want: simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).
Choose Open Notebook if you want: larger community (40.5k vs 25.8k GitHub stars).
kotaemon publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
kotaemon vs Open Notebook side by side
| kotaemon | Open Notebook | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Knowledge base & RAG | Knowledge base & RAG |
| What it is | Open-source RAG web app for chatting with your documents, with citations and GraphRAG. | Private, self-hosted alternative to Google NotebookLM with your choice of AI models. |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| License type | Permissive | Permissive |
| License conditions | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. | Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the license notice. |
| Status | Active | Active |
| GitHub stars | 25.8k | 40.5k |
| Last commit | May 30, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
| Latest release | v0.12.0 | v1.15.0 |
| Minimum hardware | Not published | 4 GB RAM |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Not required / not stated | Not required / not stated |
| Est. server cost | Not estimated | from €19.99/mo |
| Deploy method | Docker | Docker Compose |
| Known gotchas | 4 listed | 4 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | Not documented |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Not supported (OIDC not supported · SAML not supported · LDAP not supported) |
| Audit log | Not documented | No |
| RBAC | Not documented | No |
| Details | Full kotaemon guide → | Full Open Notebook guide → |
Key differences
- License: kotaemon: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Open Notebook: MIT (Permissive).
- Official hardware: kotaemon: not published. Open Notebook: minimum 4 GB RAM.
- Est. server cost: kotaemon: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Open Notebook: from €19.99/mo.
- Deploy: kotaemon: Docker · single container. Open Notebook: Docker Compose · multi-container stack.
- GitHub stars: kotaemon: 25.8k. Open Notebook: 40.5k.
- Last commit: kotaemon: May 30, 2026. Open Notebook: Oct 5, 2026.
- Latest release: kotaemon: v0.12.0 (May 31, 2026). Open Notebook: v1.15.0 (Oct 4, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Knowledge base & RAG; GPU: not required or not stated; Status: Active.
kotaemon vs Open Notebook: FAQ
kotaemon or Open Notebook: which should a small business choose?
Choose kotaemon if you want: simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack). Choose Open Notebook if you want: larger community (40.5k vs 25.8k GitHub stars). kotaemon publishes no official RAM figure, so we cannot compare hosting cost directly.
Which is cheaper to self-host, kotaemon or Open Notebook?
kotaemon: not estimated (no official RAM figure). Open Notebook: from €19.99/mo. Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do kotaemon and Open Notebook need?
kotaemon: not published. Open Notebook: minimum 4 GB RAM.
What is the license difference between kotaemon and Open Notebook?
kotaemon: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep license and notices. Open Notebook: MIT (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use allowed; keep the license notice. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is kotaemon or Open Notebook more actively maintained?
kotaemon: Active, last commit May 30, 2026. Open Notebook: Active, last commit Oct 5, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Oct 23, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, kotaemon or Open Notebook?
kotaemon installs via Docker (single container); Open Notebook via Docker Compose (multi-container stack). kotaemon lists 4 known gotchas and Open Notebook lists 4; see each app page.
Related
- kotaemon self-hosting guide · Open Notebook self-hosting guide
- All kotaemon alternatives, ranked
- All Open Notebook alternatives, ranked
- AnythingLLM vs kotaemon
- AnythingLLM vs Open Notebook
- FastGPT vs kotaemon
- FastGPT vs Open Notebook
- Khoj vs Open Notebook
- kotaemon vs MaxKB
- kotaemon vs Onyx (formerly Danswer)
- kotaemon vs PrivateGPT
- kotaemon vs RAGFlow
- MaxKB vs Open Notebook
- Onyx (formerly Danswer) vs Open Notebook
- Open Notebook vs PrivateGPT
- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
Sources
- kotaemon GitHub repository: github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon
- kotaemon documentation: cinnamon.github.io/kotaemon/
- kotaemon license: github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon/blob/main/LICENSE.txt
- kotaemon hardware requirements, kotaemon deploy instructions: github.com/Cinnamon/kotaemon#readme
- Open Notebook GitHub repository: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook
- Open Notebook documentation, Open Notebook hardware requirements: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook/blob/main/docs/1-INSTALLATION/docker-compose.md
- Open Notebook license: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook/blob/main/LICENSE
- Open Notebook deploy instructions: github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook#step-1-download-docker-composeyml
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-10-22): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.