Khoj
FreemiumOpen-source AI personal assistant. Search your notes, documents, and the web using natural language with a self-hostable, privacy-first approach.
What does this tool do?
Khoj is an open-source AI assistant that functions as a personal knowledge management and search tool with privacy-first architecture. The core offering lets users search across their personal notes, documents, and the web using natural language queries, with the ability to self-host on their own infrastructure rather than relying on cloud services. It goes beyond simple search by allowing users to build AI agents, schedule automations, and integrate various AI models into a personalized assistant. The company positions itself around transparency and user control—you can understand how it works, adapt it to your needs, and run it locally for data privacy. They've expanded their product suite to include Pipali (a desktop AI co-worker for task automation) and Open Paper (a research management tool), but the flagship Khoj app remains their primary personal assistant offering.
AI analysis from Feb 23, 2026
Key Features
- Natural language search across personal documents, notes, and web content
- Self-hosting capability with local data processing for privacy
- Custom AI agent building and configuration
- Task automation scheduling and workflow management
- Multi-model support allowing integration of different LLMs
- Web search integration for real-time information retrieval
Use Cases
- 1Researchers and academics organizing and searching through large collections of papers, notes, and citations with natural language queries
- 2Knowledge workers building a searchable personal knowledge base from scattered documents, emails, and web content
- 3Privacy-conscious professionals who need AI assistance but cannot send sensitive data to cloud services
- 4Teams automating research tasks and document review workflows without external APIs or cloud dependencies
- 5Developers and technical users who want to customize or extend the assistant with their own AI models and integrations
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- Open-source and self-hostable, giving users complete control over data and infrastructure—critical for privacy-sensitive use cases
- Natural language search across multiple document types and sources (local files, web) without requiring manual tagging or organization
- Model-agnostic architecture allowing users to plug in their preferred AI models rather than being locked into a single provider
- Active development with transparent roadmap and community engagement via GitHub and Discord
Limitations
- Pricing details are not publicly available on the website, making it unclear if there are premium tiers, usage limits, or enterprise costs
- Self-hosting requirement creates a technical barrier for non-technical users and adds ongoing maintenance overhead
- Limited information about integrations with popular productivity tools (Slack, Notion, Obsidian, etc.) suggests a narrower ecosystem than competitors
- The company appears to be pivoting focus toward Pipali, which may affect long-term investment in the core Khoj application
Pricing Details
Pricing details not publicly available.
Who is this for?
Privacy-conscious professionals, researchers, knowledge workers, and developers who need AI-assisted search and automation without cloud dependencies. Best suited for individuals and small teams with either technical sophistication (for self-hosting) or strong privacy requirements that justify the setup complexity.