Open Notebook Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy Open Notebook hosting and keep your research on a server you control instead of a vendor's cloud. xCloud runs the pinned Open Notebook 1.14.0 image with a private SurrealDB v2 database, generates the sign-in password and encryption key, mounts two persistent volumes and publishes the notebook over HTTPS on your domain. Add your AI provider keys in Settings, then chat with your sources or turn them into podcasts.

Deploy your Open Notebook

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is Open Notebook?

Open Notebook is a private research notebook, and self-hosted Open Notebook is the MIT-licensed way to run your own alternative to Google's NotebookLM. Upstream describes an open source, privacy-focused tool that collects PDFs, videos, audio and web pages, searches them with full-text and vector search, chats over them, and turns sources into podcasts with one to four speakers. It works with 18+ AI providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama and LM Studio, and exposes a full REST API.

On xCloud it is Open Notebook 1.14.0 beside a private SurrealDB v2 container, both pinned by digest. Notebooks and uploads live on the open_notebook_data volume and the database on open_notebook_db. One generated password protects the interface and the API, there is no admin signup, and you add provider keys in Settings after the first boot finishes its migrations.

From Sign-Up to a Live Notebook In Just 3 Easy Steps

A self-hosted research notebook normally means an app container, a database, a password, a domain and a certificate before you add a source. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account, pick Open Notebook from the OneClick catalog and choose a domain. No other fields to fill in.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We run the pinned Open Notebook and SurrealDB containers, generate your sign-in password and publish it over HTTPS.
Step 03
Sign In And Add Your Keys
Sign in with the generated password, add your AI provider keys in Settings, then create your first notebook.

Everything Open Notebook Does, On Your Own Server

Open Notebook runs in full here as a private research notebook, on infrastructure you control.

Private Research Library
Collect PDFs, videos, audio and web pages in one notebook, then search them with full-text and vector search.
Chat With Your Sources
Chat with the sources in any notebook, using the AI provider you configure in Settings, including Ollama and LM Studio.
Podcasts From Your Sources
Turn your sources into multi-speaker podcasts, with 1 to 4 speakers per episode, as upstream Open Notebook supports.
Pick Your AI Provider
Choose from 18+ AI providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama and LM Studio, by adding their keys in Settings.
Full REST API Access
Upstream includes a full REST API, and the same generated password protects both the UI and the API, so scripts can use the notebook too.
Data Survives A Restart
Notebooks, notes, sources and the database survived an xCloud restart of both containers during our testing.

Everything You Need To Run Your Private Research, Your Server

Managed hosting for Open Notebook, so HTTPS, the password and persistent storage are set up for you.

Open Notebook 1.14.0 deployed in one click
Pinned image and database digests
Generated sign-in password
Database kept on a private network
Managed HTTPS certificate
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With Open Notebook

Keep sensitive research off a vendor cloud
Researchers, analysts and students can load papers, recordings and web pages into notebooks that sit on a server only they can sign in to.
Question a pile of sources in plain language
Chat with the sources in a notebook, using the AI provider you chose, and search across everything by keyword or by meaning.
Turn reading lists into podcasts
Generate a multi-speaker podcast episode from a notebook's sources, with one to four speakers, for listening away from the screen.
Script against your own notebook
Call the upstream REST API with the same generated password to automate imports and queries from your own tools.

Open Notebook vs Alternatives

Google NotebookLM: A hosted Google product. Upstream positions Open Notebook as a self-hosted alternative that supports 18+ AI providers, one to four podcast speakers and a full REST API.
Upstream Docker Compose on your own machine: Upstream's quick start runs the same app with Docker Desktop. You then handle the domain, certificate, encryption key and database credentials yourself; here they are provisioned for you.
Open Notebook with local models: Upstream says you can run locally with Ollama to control costs. This template bundles no model server, so you point it at one you reach separately, or at a hosted provider.
A single vendor's AI assistant: Upstream lists no vendor lock-in as a goal: with Open Notebook you can switch providers and deploy anywhere, rather than keeping notes inside one vendor's assistant.

Simple Pricing. Everything Included.

Dedicated Cloud VPS sizes, pre-configured for Open Notebook hosting. Pick the one that fits your notebooks and anything else on the server.

Cloud VPS 6 GB

Cloud VPS 16 GB

Open Notebook alongside other self-hosted services on the same box.

$59.99per month

16 GB RAM
6 vCPU cores
200 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Cloud VPS 24 GB

Open Notebook alongside a whole self-hosted stack.

$84.99per month

24 GB RAM
8 vCPU cores
300 GB NVMe SSD
30 TB
Unlimited

Get started

Every size is a dedicated Cloud VPS we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Billed monthly with no lock-in. Open Notebook is MIT-licensed; this is the server it runs on.

Docker hosting

Already Have a Server? Bring Your Own

Connect any VPS and deploy Open Notebook on it through the same panel, for a per-server management fee instead of a Cloud VPS rental.

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$3per server / month

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Priced per connected server, so your rate adjusts as you add or remove servers. You pay your own provider for the server itself.

Self-managed hosting

Ready For A Private Research Notebook?

Open Notebook on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision and manage. Deploy in one click, and keep control of your data.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Can you self-host Open Notebook with Docker?

Yes. Upstream ships a Docker Compose setup, and this template is Open Notebook Docker hosting with the parts assembled: the app image and SurrealDB v2 pinned by digest, two named volumes, generated credentials and HTTPS on your domain, so you run your own Open Notebook cloud without writing the compose file.

How much RAM does Open Notebook need?

The template declares 1024 MB of RAM, 2 CPU cores and 10 GB of disk as its floor; peak use in testing was about 567 MB across both containers. The 6 GB plan is the entry rung, leaving room for sources, uploads and anything else you run on the server.

Is Open Notebook free?

The software is free and MIT-licensed, so there is no licence fee. You pay xCloud for the server it runs on, plus whatever your chosen AI provider charges for its models. Upstream notes that you pay only for AI usage, and you can cancel the server whenever you like.

Is Open Notebook better than NotebookLM?

It depends on what you need. Upstream's own comparison favours Open Notebook on privacy, provider choice, podcast speakers and API access, but concedes NotebookLM has more comprehensive citations, since Open Notebook's references are basic for now. Judge it on a notebook of your own sources.

Which AI providers does Open Notebook support?

Upstream lists 18+ providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama and LM Studio. Add the keys for the ones you use under Settings, then pick them for chat and podcasts. The template bundles no model server of its own, so local models need a separate endpoint.

Does Open Notebook work without an API key?

The app starts and you can sign in without any key, so you can create notebooks right away. AI features such as chat and podcast generation need a provider key added in Settings. Keys you save are encrypted with the generated encryption key from your environment.

How do I sign in to Open Notebook?

Use the generated password from the protected installation credentials; there is no admin signup, and the same password protects the interface and the API. The first boot waits for the database and runs migrations, which can take a few minutes. To change it, edit it in the Environment editor and redeploy.

What is the upload limit?

The default is 100 MB: in testing a 60 MB upload succeeded and a 110 MB one was rejected. Docling and Crawl4AI are not enabled by this template, because turning them on triggers a large extra download the next time the container starts.

Can I rotate the encryption key?

Avoid it once you have saved provider keys. Changing OPEN_NOTEBOOK_ENCRYPTION_KEY makes the stored provider API keys unreadable, so you would re-enter each one. The database user and password are fixed when SurrealDB first creates its volume, so editing them later does not rotate the database either.

How do I back up Open Notebook?

Back up open_notebook_data and open_notebook_db together, since the first holds uploads and app data and the second holds the SurrealDB database. Treat the copies as secret-bearing, because they hold your configuration and encrypted provider keys. Test a restore once before you rely on it.

Backups in xCloud

How do I upgrade Open Notebook?

The install stays on pinned 1.14.0 and its SurrealDB image until you adopt a newer template version. Back up both volumes first and read the upstream release notes; the redeploy keeps the volumes. Existing sites are never upgraded automatically.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.