Save $3,360/year. Use these free tools instead.
12 paid tools and a free, self-hostable alternative for each — $280 a month, $3,360 a year between them.
All 12 tools, with prices and links
01Realtime messaging
Centrifugo
Instead of
Pusher“Scalable real-time messaging server in a language-agnostic way. Self-hosted alternative to Pubnub, Pusher, Ably, socket.io, Phoenix.PubSub, SignalR. Set up once and forever.”
- Pusher costs
- $49/mo · Startup planPrinted as “$49/month” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $588Computed: $49 × 12.
- Centrifugo costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 10.8k stars · 51 contributorsLast commit 14 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
02Document sharing
Papermark
Instead of
DocSend“Papermark is the open-source DocSend alternative and secure data rooms with built-in analytics and custom domains.”
- DocSend costs
- $30/user/mo · Standard planPrinted as “$30/user/month” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $360 per userComputed: $30 × 12.
- Papermark costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 9.2k stars · 61 contributorsLast commit 28 Aug 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
03Online courses
ClassroomIO
Instead of
Teachable“The Open Source Education Platform for Companies. A Simple and Beautiful Alternative to Moodle LMS, EdX, Thinkific and Teachable”
- Teachable costs
- $29/mo · Starter planPrinted as “$29/mo” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $348Computed: $29 × 12.
- ClassroomIO costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 1.7k stars · 43 contributorsLast commit 15 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
04Authentication
Hanko
Instead of
Clerk“Modern authentication, on your terms. Open source alternative to Auth0, Clerk, WorkOS, Stytch.”
- Clerk costs
- $25/mo · Pro planPrinted as “$25/mo” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $300Computed: $25 × 12.
- Hanko costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 9k stars · 59 contributorsLast commit 15 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
05App builder
Dyad
Instead of
Bolt“Local, open-source AI app builder for power users v0 / Lovable / Replit / Bolt alternative Star if you like it!”
- Bolt costs
- $25/mo · Pro planPrinted as “$25 per month billed monthly” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $300Computed: $25 × 12.
- Dyad costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 21.5k stars · 34 contributorsLast commit 15 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
06Sales CRMBonus: not in the post
Deskcomm CRM
Instead of
Kommo“Open-source AI sales OS — self-hosted CRM with native AI agents + WhatsApp (WAHA). Open alternative to Kommo, Octadesk & Intercom for any business that sells by chat. MCP-ready, multi-tenant, LGPD.”
- Kommo costs
- $25/user/mo · Base planPrinted as “$25” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $300 per userComputed: $25 × 12.
- Deskcomm CRM costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 2.7k stars · 59 contributorsLast commit 15 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
07Email APIBonus: not in the post
useSend
Instead of
Resend“Open source alternative to Resend, Sendgrid, Postmark etc.”
- Resend costs
- $20/mo · Pro planPrinted as “$20 / mo” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $240Computed: $20 × 12.
- useSend costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 4.7k stars · 48 contributorsLast commit 8 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
08PlanningBonus: not in the post
Huly
Instead of
Motion“Huly — All-in-One Project Management Platform (alternative to Linear, Jira, Slack, Notion, Motion)”
- Motion costs
- $19/seat/mo · Pro AI planPrinted as “$ 19 /seat” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $228 per userComputed: $19 × 12.
- Huly costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 27.7k stars · 127 contributorsLast commit 27 Aug 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
09CommentsBonus: not in the post
Cusdis
Instead of
Disqus“lightweight, privacy-friendly alternative to Disqus.”
GitHub showed this repository as archived (read-only) on 15 Oct 2026. Look before you switch.
djyde/cusdis- Disqus costs
- $18/mo · Comments Plus plan · billed yearlyPrinted as “$18” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $216Computed: $18 × 12.
- Cusdis costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 2.8k stars · 54 contributorsLast commit 17 Jul 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
10Meeting notesBonus: not in the post
Anarlog
Instead of
Granola“Open source Granola AI Alternative”
- Granola costs
- $14/user/mo · Business planPrinted as “$14 per user per month” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $168 per userComputed: $14 × 12.
- Anarlog costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 9.3k stars · 39 contributorsLast commit 15 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
11Chat automationBonus: not in the post
OpenReply
Instead of
Manychat“The open-source Manychat alternative”
- Manychat costs
- $14/mo · Essential planPrinted as “$14/mo” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $168Computed: $14 × 12.
- OpenReply costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 2.3k stars · 22 contributorsLast commit 14 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 2026.
12DictationBonus: not in the post
VoiceInk
Instead of
Wispr Flow“The best open-source alternative to Superwhisper & Wispr Flow. Voice-to-text app for macOS with no subscription”
- Wispr Flow costs
- $12/user/mo · Pro planPrinted as “$12/user/mo” on their pricing page, read 15 Sep 2026.
- Over a year
- $144 per userComputed: $12 × 12.
- VoiceInk costs
- $0 licence, self-hostedYour server and your time are not free.
- Maintenance
- 6.4k stars · 43 contributorsLast commit 15 Sep 2026, per GitHub on 15 Sep 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 2026-09-15, 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.
Every free tool here describes itself as an alternative to the tool it sits beside, in its maintainers' own words, quoted underneath it. Stars, contributors and last commit came from the GitHub API on the same day as the prices.
All twelve 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.
