Save $5,508/year. Use these free tools instead.
12 paid tools and a free, self-hostable alternative for each — $458.99 a month, $5,508 a year between them.
All 12 tools, with prices and links
01Authentication
Zitadel
Instead of
FusionAuth“ZITADEL - Identity infrastructure, simplified for you.”
- FusionAuth costs
- $162/mo · Starter planPrinted as “$ 162 /mo” on their pricing page, read 12 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $1,944Computed: $162 × 12.
- Zitadel costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 15.3k stars · 262 contributorsLast commit 12 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 12 Oct 2026.
02Data transformation
SQLMesh
Instead of
dbt Cloud“Scalable and efficient data transformation framework - backwards compatible with dbt.”
- dbt Cloud costs
- $100/user/mo · Starter planPrinted as “$100 per user/month” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $1,200 per userComputed: $100 × 12.
- SQLMesh costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 3.3k stars · 182 contributorsLast commit 6 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
03File uploads
Uppy
Instead of
Filestack“The next open source file uploader for web browsers:dog:”
- Filestack costs
- $69/mo · START planPrinted as “$69 billed monthly” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $828Computed: $69 × 12.
- Uppy costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 31k stars · 485 contributorsLast commit 11 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
04RAG
RAGFlow
Instead of
Chatbase“RAGFlow is a leading open-source Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) engine that fuses cutting-edge RAG with Agent capabilities to create a superior context layer for LLMs”
- Chatbase costs
- $40/mo · Hobby planPrinted as “$ 40 per month” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $480Computed: $40 × 12.
- RAGFlow costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 92.1k stars · 873 contributorsLast commit 11 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
05Kubernetes UI
K9s
Instead of
Lens“Kubernetes CLI To Manage Your Clusters In Style!”
- Lens costs
- $25/mo · Plus planPrinted as “$25 / month with annual” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $300Computed: $25 × 12.
- K9s costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 34.8k stars · 419 contributorsLast commit 11 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
06Notes
Logseq
Instead of
Tana“A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration. Download link: roadmap:”
- Tana costs
- $20/user/mo · Pro planPrinted as “$20” on their pricing page, read 12 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $240 per userComputed: $20 × 12.
- Logseq costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 45.2k stars · 361 contributorsLast commit 12 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 12 Oct 2026.
07Spreadsheet database
Grist
Instead of
Fibery“Grist is the evolution of spreadsheets.”
- Fibery costs
- $12/user/mo · Standard planPrinted as “$12 per user/month billed annually” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $144 per userComputed: $12 × 12.
- Grist costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 11.9k stars · 200 contributorsLast commit 9 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
08Screenshots
Flameshot
Instead of
CleanShot“Powerful yet simple to use screenshot software:desktop_computer::camera_flash:”
- CleanShot costs
- $10/user/mo · CleanShot Pro plan · billed yearlyPrinted as “$10 per user/mo, billed annually” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $120 per userComputed: $10 × 12.
- Flameshot costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 31.2k stars · 359 contributorsLast commit 11 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
- Zoho CRM costs
- $7/user/mo · Bigin Express planPrinted as “$7” on their pricing page, read 11 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $84 per userComputed: $7 × 12.
- EspoCRM costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 3.5k stars · 70 contributorsLast commit 11 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 11 Oct 2026.
10Team chat
Zulip
Instead of
Twist“Zulip server and web application. Open-source team chat that helps teams stay productive and focused.”
- Twist costs
- $6/user/mo · Unlimited planPrinted as “$ 6 per user per month” on their pricing page, read 12 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $72 per userComputed: $6 × 12.
- Zulip costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 26k stars · 1,345 contributorsLast commit 12 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 12 Oct 2026.
11Media server
Jellyfin
Instead of
Emby“The Free Software Media System - Server Backend & API”
- Emby costs
- $4.99/mo · Monthly planPrinted as “$4.99/Each” on their pricing page, read 12 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $60Computed: $4.99 × 12.
- Jellyfin costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 58k stars · 1,872 contributorsLast commit 12 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 12 Oct 2026.
12File sync
Syncthing
Instead of
Sync.com“Open Source Continuous File Synchronization”
- Sync.com costs
- $3/user/mo · Teams 1TB plan · billed yearlyPrinted as “$3 per user, per month” on their pricing page, read 12 Oct 2026.
- Over a year
- $36 per userComputed: $3 × 12.
- Syncthing costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 89.3k stars · 397 contributorsLast commit 12 Oct 2026, per GitHub on 12 Oct 2026.
Free of licence, not free of cost.
Self-hosting means a server and the time to run it. The free tools here cost $0 to license; the paid prices are the cheapest paid tier in US dollars on the day shown, and they change. “Open source” is only shown where the repository declares an OSI-approved licence.
How these were checked
Every price was read off the vendor's own pricing page, rendered in a real browser on 2026-10-11 and 2026-10-12, taking the cheapest paid tier in US dollars. The page and the date are listed against each one below, so you can check any of them yourself.
Quoted or computed. Each entry shows the price as the page prints it. 12 of 12 appear on the vendor's page word for word. Anything worked out from those figures is labelled computed and shows its arithmetic, so a number we calculated cannot be mistaken for one a vendor published. The only computed figures here are the yearly costs and the totals.
0 of the 12 free tools describe themselves, in their maintainers' own words, as an alternative to the tool they sit beside. The other 12 do not name theirs, so those pairings are not their maintainers' claim, and each one says so. Every description is quoted underneath its tool. Stars, contributors and last commit came from the GitHub API on the same day as the prices.
All 12 free projects had been committed to within the last 90 days.
Self-hosting is not free of cost — it is free of licence. A server and the time to run it are yours to pay either way, and nothing below pretends otherwise.
