Khoj

A self-hosted AI second brain for your notes and docs.

Editorially reviewedChecked Oct 2026How we review·5 visited this week

note-taking#practical-oss#open-source#self-hosted#knowledge

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Free plan API Self-hosted Offline mode

Toolglade’s take

Khoj is a compelling choice for turning a personal notes and document collection into a searchable AI assistant, and the Obsidian and Emacs integrations make it feel native to existing workflows. It is best for note-takers and researchers who want AI over their own files, privately if they self-host. Skip it if you want a turnkey product with no setup, since self-hosting and good local-model performance still take effort and hardware.

Should you use Khoj?

Biggest strength: Chat with and search across your own notes, documents, and PDFs in natural language
Biggest weakness: Self-hosting involves a Docker stack and some configuration to get running well
Pricing: Free plan
Top alternative: Anytype · see all

Facts & pricing last checked October 2026. How we review

About Khoj

Khoj is a self-hostable personal assistant that answers questions from your own notes, documents, and the web. It connects to tools like Obsidian and supports agents and scheduled automations. It is aimed at building a private, searchable knowledge base you control.

Khoj is a self-hostable AI "second brain" that lets you chat with and search across your own notes, documents, and files. You connect sources such as Markdown notes, Org-mode files, PDFs, and more, and Khoj indexes them so you can ask questions in natural language and get answers drawn from your personal knowledge, with the relevant source material surfaced alongside. Beyond search, it works as a personal AI assistant: it can use local models for full privacy or cloud models for more power, generate images, and reach the web for current information. It integrates directly into tools people already use, including Obsidian and Emacs, plus a web app and desktop and mobile clients. Licensed under AGPL-3.0, Khoj appeals to researchers, note-takers, and knowledge workers who want an AI layer over their personal files without sending everything to a commercial service.

Weighing your options?See how Khoj compares to the alternatives.

Pros & cons

Pros

Chat with and search across your own notes, documents, and PDFs in natural language
Runs with local models for privacy or cloud models for more capability
Integrates into Obsidian and Emacs, plus web, desktop, and mobile clients
Surfaces the source documents behind its answers, not just a bare reply
Open source under AGPL-3.0 and self-hostable, with a managed cloud option too

Cons

Self-hosting involves a Docker stack and some configuration to get running well
Local-model quality and speed depend on your hardware; cloud models cost money
Indexing large or messy document collections can take tuning to get good results
AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms matter if you modify and offer it as a hosted service