Alexandrie

Open-source note-taking and knowledge management, honestly reviewed. No marketing fluff, just what you get when you deploy it yourself.

TL;DR

• What it is: MIT-licensed, self-hosted knowledge base built around an extended Markdown editor — think Notion meets Obsidian, but running on your own server [README].
• Who it’s for: Developers and technically-comfortable founders who want a clean, private alternative to Notion or Evernote, and are comfortable with Docker [profile].
• Cost savings: Notion’s Team plan runs $15/user/month. Alexandrie self-hosted runs on a $5–10/mo VPS with zero per-user fees [README].
• Key strength: Genuinely good-looking UI — the DB Tech reviewer said it looks “really good” and the dark mode specifically avoids the harsh midnight-black that plagues most open-source tools [1]. SSO is included free, not gated behind a commercial tier.
• Key weakness: Only 1,304 GitHub stars as of this review — the project is young and the community is small. One real third-party review exists publicly. At this stage, you’re betting on a solo French developer’s continued commitment [profile].

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What is Alexandrie

Alexandrie is a self-hosted knowledge base built by a single developer. You write notes in an extended Markdown editor, organize them in a tree of workspaces and categories, and optionally share them with other users or the public. The backend is Go (Gin), the frontend is Nuxt 4 (Vue 3), storage is MySQL plus any S3-compatible bucket, and the whole thing ships as a four-service Docker Compose stack [README].

The pitch in the GitHub README is direct: “A self-hosted, open-source knowledge base with an extended Markdown editor. Organize, search, share and export your notes — from any device, even offline.” That’s an accurate description. This is not a project management suite or a team wiki platform trying to be everything. It’s a note-taking and knowledge base tool with thoughtful extras: Kanban boards, voice-to-text, SSO via OIDC, and PWA support for offline use [README].

What makes it stand out in a crowded category is the combination of features that most alternatives charge extra for. SSO via OIDC — connect Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Discord, or any OpenID provider — is included and documented [README]. Five-level per-document permissions (None / Read / Write / Admin / Owner) are built in [README]. Offline PWA support means you can install it on a mobile device and take notes without a connection [README]. On Notion, several of these are paid features. On self-hosted alternatives like Wiki.js, SSO setup is messier. Alexandrie puts them in the free tier because there is no paid tier [README].

The extended Markdown goes beyond standard CommonMark: colored containers, academic callout blocks, KaTeX math rendering, footnotes, interactive checkboxes, syntax highlighting, and custom snippets you can import or export [README]. If you write technical documentation or research notes, the KaTeX support alone is worth attention.

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Why People Choose It

There is exactly one substantive third-party review of Alexandrie publicly available [1], which is an honest data point about the project’s maturity. The DB Tech review from November 2025 spent real time with the tool and came away positive but measured.

The UI is a genuine differentiator. The reviewer explicitly called it “really good” and singled out the dark mode for using a “dusk color scheme” that’s easier on the eyes than the harsh blacks most open-source tools default to [1]. For a tool you’ll spend hours in, this matters more than specs.

People come from Notion frustration. Notion’s free tier is increasingly limited, and the per-member pricing on team plans adds up fast for small companies. A 5-person team on Notion’s Plus plan is $50/month before you’ve bought anything else. Alexandrie running on a $6 VPS is $6/month regardless of users [README][1]. The feature overlap isn’t perfect — Notion’s database views and AI features have no equivalent here — but for straightforward structured note-taking and internal documentation, Alexandrie covers the core use cases.

Obsidian comparison is worth making. Obsidian is the obvious alternative for Markdown-first power users. The trade-off is almost exactly inverted: Obsidian gives you a richer local plugin ecosystem and offline-first storage, but Alexandrie gives you multi-user collaboration, web-accessible shared links, and server-side search — things Obsidian charges for through its Sync and Publish products ($8/mo and $10/mo respectively). If you need a shared knowledge base for a team rather than a personal vault, Alexandrie is a more natural fit [README].

The setup path is real. The DB Tech reviewer walked through deployment without complaining about it — the Docker Compose path is documented and works. The tool has a live demo at the website, which is a good sign that the developer is running it in production themselves [README][1].

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Features

Based on the README and the DB Tech review:

Editor and writing:

• CodeMirror 6 editor with rich toolbar
• Live side-by-side preview with scroll sync [1]
• Extended Markdown: KaTeX math, colored containers, academic blocks, callout cards, footnotes, syntax highlighting
• Custom snippets with import/export
• Voice recognition for dictating notes directly into the editor
• Auto-save and manual save (Ctrl+S) [1]
• Word count, spell check

Organization:

• Workspaces → Categories → Documents (nested tree) [1][README]
• Tags, bookmarks, pinned notes, custom icons
• Drag and drop between folders [1]
• Kanban boards per workspace for task planning
• Full-text search with Ctrl+K command center and relevance ranking [README]

Sharing and permissions:

• Public sharing via unique links (configurable read or edit access) [1]
• Private sharing with other users on the instance [1]
• 5-level per-document permission system: None / Read / Write / Admin / Owner [README]

Auth and access:

• JWT authentication
• SSO via OIDC: Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Discord, or any OpenID-compatible provider — included, not gated [README]

Files and media:

• S3-compatible storage (RustFS, MinIO, AWS S3, Garage, or others) [README]
• 30+ supported file formats: images, video, audio, office docs
• In-app PDF viewer
• Drag and drop file upload into notes [README]

Offline and mobile:

• PWA support — installable on any device
• Offline editing (notes sync when reconnected) [README]

Admin and customization:

• Dark/light mode, glassmorphism UI
• Custom CSS injection per document or globally
• Font, size, line-height settings
• One-click backup export as ZIP (docs, files, settings) [README]

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Pricing: SaaS vs Self-Hosted Math

Alexandrie has no SaaS tier. It is self-hosted only. The license is MIT, which means the software is free and you can do whatever you want with it [profile]. The only cost is infrastructure.

Self-hosted cost:

• Software: $0
• VPS: $5–10/mo (Hetzner CX22 at $4.66/mo handles it; you’ll want 2GB+ RAM)
• S3 storage: $0 if you use the bundled MinIO or self-hosted RustFS; ~$0.02/GB on Backblaze B2 if you go external

What you’re replacing:

Product	Price	Notes
Notion Plus	$10/user/mo (annual)	Database views, AI costs extra
Notion Team	$15/user/mo (annual)	SSO costs extra
Obsidian Sync + Publish	$18/mo	Personal use only
Confluence Cloud	$4.89/user/mo (annual)	Jira ecosystem

For a 5-person team on Notion Team: $75/mo = $900/yr. Alexandrie self-hosted: ~$7/mo = $84/yr. That’s $816 saved annually before you factor in that Notion’s SSO requires the Enterprise plan (custom pricing, typically four figures per year) while Alexandrie’s SSO is included for free [README].

The caveat is that Notion is genuinely more capable for structured databases, relational content, and non-technical users who’ve never seen a terminal. The math only makes sense if you need what Alexandrie actually offers — Markdown-first writing with multi-user sharing — and not the features it doesn’t have.

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Deployment Reality Check

The README’s headline claim is “one command to deploy” and that claim is roughly accurate [README]. The path is:

git clone https://github.com/Smaug6739/Alexandrie.git
cd Alexandrie
cp .env.example .env
docker compose up -d

That brings up four services: the Go API, the Nuxt frontend, MySQL, and a file storage service. Default config works out of the box — you’re at http://localhost:8200 with working auth in under five minutes [README][1].

What you actually need:

• Linux VPS, 2GB RAM minimum
• Docker and docker-compose
• A domain + reverse proxy (Caddy or nginx) for HTTPS and external access
• SMTP config if you want email notifications

What can go sideways:

• The DB Tech reviewer flagged a UX annoyance: logged-in users land on the homepage (essentially a feature advertisement) instead of their dashboard [1]. It’s a minor friction point that shouldn’t exist in a productivity tool.
• The reviewer also noted tags have limitations, though the review text cut off before explaining them [1].
• S3 configuration is required if you want file uploads. The default docker-compose bundles a compatible storage service, but if you want to point at an external S3 bucket you’ll need to configure credentials. Not hard, but it’s an extra step.
• With 1,304 GitHub stars and one public developer, the project’s bus factor is real. There’s a Discord server linked from the README, but community size is unknown [README][profile].
• The project is French-developed with an .fr domain; documentation quality in English appears solid from the README, but edge cases may surface for non-French users if they need support [README].

Realistic setup time for someone familiar with Docker: 20–45 minutes. For someone new to reverse proxies and Docker Compose: 2–3 hours.

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• SSO included free. OIDC support for Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Discord, and custom providers is built into the community edition with no commercial tier to unlock it [README]. This alone beats most competitors.
• Actually good UI. The DB Tech reviewer was genuinely positive — the dark mode specifically, and the overall design quality [1]. Most open-source knowledge bases look like they’re from 2015. Alexandrie doesn’t.
• MIT license. No usage restrictions, no “Fair-code” gotchas, no commercial licensing conversations [profile].
• Extended Markdown is legitimately useful. KaTeX math, academic blocks, colored containers, footnotes — these matter for documentation-heavy use cases [README].
• 5-level per-document permissions. Granular access control is rare in free knowledge base tools [README].
• PWA + offline support. Mobile-installable with offline editing is a feature Notion charges for via its mobile apps [README].
• One-command deployment that actually works. The README claim holds [1][README].
• Kanban boards included — basic project tracking without switching apps [README].

Cons

• Small community, single developer. 1,304 stars and one public review. The project could be abandoned, stall, or break on a MySQL upgrade. This is the biggest risk [profile].
• No public SaaS fallback. If your VPS dies during a critical moment, there’s no managed tier to fall back to. You own the ops entirely.
• Homepage UX annoyance. Logged-in users land on the marketing homepage instead of their dashboard [1]. Small but real.
• Tag limitations — the DB Tech reviewer flagged these but the details weren’t captured [1]. Worth testing if tags are central to your workflow.
• MySQL only. Postgres users are out of luck — the stack requires MySQL 8 [README]. In the self-hosted world, Postgres has broader tool support.
• No API documentation visible in the README. If you need to integrate Alexandrie with other tools programmatically, the REST API surface is unclear [README].
• Not built for non-technical users. The editor is Markdown-first with a toolbar assist. Someone who’s never written ## Header in their life will struggle [1][README].
• No mobile app — PWA covers the use case, but it’s not a native app and rendering on smaller screens depends on the browser’s PWA implementation [README].

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Who Should Use This / Who Shouldn’t

Use Alexandrie if:

• You’re a developer or technical founder who already writes in Markdown and wants a self-hosted knowledge base that doesn’t look terrible.
• You’re running a small team (2–15 people) that needs shared internal documentation with proper permissions.
• You want SSO for free — especially for connecting an existing Google Workspace or GitHub org.
• Notion’s per-seat pricing is starting to sting.
• You’re comfortable with Docker and can handle a 30-minute setup.

Skip it if:

• Your team has non-technical members who need a WYSIWYG editor they can pick up in ten minutes. Notion, Coda, or Confluence are safer bets.
• You need relational databases, spreadsheet-style views, or any of Notion’s structured data features.
• You need a production-critical knowledge base with an SLA. A solo-developer project with 1,304 stars isn’t that.
• You’re on a team larger than ~30 people — at that scale, the lack of auditing, SCIM provisioning, and formal enterprise support starts to matter.
• Your compliance requirements need documented security practices or a vendor relationship. A GitHub-hosted open-source project doesn’t fulfill a vendor security questionnaire.

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Alternatives Worth Considering

• Obsidian — the power user’s Markdown vault. Local-first, massive plugin ecosystem, offline by default. Costs $8/mo for Sync (multi-device) and $10/mo for Publish (sharing). Better for personal use; Alexandrie is better for teams [README].
• AppFlowy — another MIT-licensed Notion alternative, more mature community (~62K GitHub stars), also self-hostable. Supports block-based editing (Notion-style) which is more accessible to non-technical users.
• Outline — self-hosted team wiki with a polished UI, Slack-like experience. The self-hosted version is MIT, the cloud is paid. Stronger for larger teams than Alexandrie.
• Wiki.js — established self-hosted wiki. More integrations (Git sync, LDAP, storage backends), but the editor experience feels heavier and the setup is more involved.
• Logseq — graph-based, outliner-first, local-first. Strong for personal knowledge graphs, weaker for shared team documentation.
• Notion — the incumbent. Best non-technical UX, biggest ecosystem, per-seat pricing that compounds, no self-hosting option.
• Joplin — Markdown notes with E2E encryption, good mobile apps, primarily a personal tool rather than a team knowledge base.

For a small technical team escaping Notion bills, the realistic shortlist is Alexandrie vs Outline vs AppFlowy. Pick Alexandrie if the clean editor and SSO-out-of-the-box matter most. Pick AppFlowy if you need a closer Notion substitute with a larger community. Pick Outline if the team wiki use case is more document-collaboration than personal knowledge management.

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Bottom Line

Alexandrie is a pleasant surprise in a category full of mediocre options. The UI is genuinely good, the feature set is thoughtful — extended Markdown, SSO, granular permissions, offline PWA, Kanban — and the deployment is as straightforward as the README claims. If you’re a developer paying $50–100/month for a Notion team subscription and you mostly use it for writing structured Markdown, the migration math is compelling: one afternoon of setup, a $6 VPS, and the bill disappears.

The honest caveat is the project’s stage. 1,304 GitHub stars and one developer is thin. It’s not a community project yet — it’s a well-built personal tool that’s been open-sourced. That might grow into something more resilient, or it might stall. If you’re betting your team’s primary knowledge base on it, have a backup export plan. The one-click ZIP export means your data isn’t trapped, which is the right design choice for this kind of risk [README].

For solo use or a small technical team that can tolerate some operational ownership, Alexandrie is worth deploying and worth watching.

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Sources

1. DB Tech Reviews — “Alexandrie Note-Taking App Review: Self-Hosted Markdown Notes with Docker” (November 5, 2025). https://dbtechreviews.com/2025/11/05/alexandrie-note-taking-app-review-self-hosted-markdown-notes-with-docker/

Primary sources:

• GitHub repository and README: https://github.com/smaug6739/alexandrie (1,304 stars, MIT license)
• Official website and live demo: https://alexandrie-hub.fr
• Merged tool profile (internal): slug alexandrie, category documents