What is Colanode used for?

Colanode is an open-source, local-first workspace with chat, Notion-style pages, databases and files that you can self-host. It is a good fit for offline-capable team knowledge base.

Is Colanode open source?

Yes. Colanode is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at colanode/colanode and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Colanode is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at $20 per month.

Can I self-host Colanode?

Yes. Colanode can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Colanode an alternative to?

Colanode is an open-source alternative to Notion, Slack, Coda and Microsoft Loop. Other open-source alternatives to Slack include Rocket.Chat, Mattermost and Zulip.

Is Colanode actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Colanode was on 3 April 2026, and the latest release is v0.4.7, published on 3 April 2026. The project has 5.2k stars on GitHub.

Colanode: open-source alternative to Notion, Slack, Coda

About Colanode

Colanode is an all-in-one collaboration platform built around data privacy and control. It combines real-time chat, rich-text pages for documents, wikis and notes, customizable databases and file management in one workspace, positioned as an open-source alternative to Slack and Notion.

It has a client app, available on the web and as an Electron desktop app, and a self-hosted server. One app can connect to several servers, each holding one or more workspaces for different teams or projects. Databases support custom fields and table, kanban and calendar views. The local-first design writes every change to a local SQLite database first and syncs it in the background, so reads are immediate and people can keep working when offline.

The topics reference CRDTs and Yjs for real-time collaboration. Colanode is written in TypeScript and licensed under Apache-2.0, and because you run the server yourself you decide where the data is stored. It suits individuals, small projects and larger teams that want to avoid depending on a hosted vendor.

Key features

Real-time team chat
Rich-text pages and wikis
Databases with table, kanban and calendar views
File management in workspaces
Local-first SQLite sync
Web and desktop clients

Good fit for

→Self-hosted alternative to Slack and Notion
→Offline-capable team knowledge base

Built with: TypeScript; Electron; SQLite
Tags: collaboration; local-first; self-hosted; chat; wiki; notion-alternative; crdt; electron

Colanode: questions and answers

What is Colanode used for?: Colanode is an open-source, local-first workspace with chat, Notion-style pages, databases and files that you can self-host. It is a good fit for offline-capable team knowledge base.
Is Colanode open source?: Yes. Colanode is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at colanode/colanode and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Colanode free?: Yes. Colanode is open source, so the software itself is free to use. Paid plans are also available, starting at $20 per month.
Can I self-host Colanode?: Yes. Colanode can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Colanode an alternative to?: Colanode is an open-source alternative to Notion, Slack, Coda and Microsoft Loop. Other open-source alternatives to Slack include Rocket.Chat, Mattermost and Zulip.
Is Colanode actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Colanode was on 3 April 2026, and the latest release is v0.4.7, published on 3 April 2026. The project has 5.2k stars on GitHub.