Replace / OneNote
Best free OneNote alternatives (open source, self-hosted) 2026
The best open-source alternative to OneNote is Memos or Trilium Notes, self-hosted on Railway. Notes you host. Memos is MIT capture; TriliumNext is AGPL-3.0 notebooks. Joplin Server is personal-use — not the open-source path. OneNote is the same capture job.
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stackStart on Railway
How OneNote compares
| OneNote | Memos / TriliumNext | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hosted subscription | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | Public list price not verified this run | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Memos
MIT self-hosted Markdown notes
- Trilium Notes
AGPL-3.0 hierarchical notebook (TriliumNext)
FAQ
- What is the best free open-source OneNote alternative?
- The best open-source alternative to OneNote is Memos or Trilium Notes, self-hosted on Railway. Notes you host. Memos is MIT capture; TriliumNext is AGPL-3.0 notebooks. Joplin Server is personal-use — not the open-source path. OneNote is the same capture job.
- Is it free?
- The Memos / TriliumNext licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no OneNote seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from OneNote?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Memos / TriliumNext stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old OneNote links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Memos / TriliumNext stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: Memos (one Go binary + a volume) or TriliumNext + a volume. Do not deploy Joplin Server for a company. Wikis stay on /stacks/docmost-wiki.
- What does this replace?
- Evernote / Google Keep / OneNote. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
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