The Oct 2026 ranking of open-source productivity software
If you are shopping for productivity software you can actually own, this guide walks the shortlist.
Rather than a flat list, we ranked these 17 tools by how many times people actually started them on PickYour.App.
How they stack up
| # | App | Category | Installs | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stirling-PDF Do everything with PDFs, privately | Productivity | 141 000 | €0.023/hr |
| 2 | Plane Open-source project management | Productivity | 62 000 | €0.046/hr |
| 3 | NocoDB Open-source Airtable alternative | Productivity | 59 000 | €0.023/hr |
| 4 | BookStack Simple wiki & documentation platform | Productivity | 56 000 | €0.023/hr |
| 5 | Excalidraw Virtual whiteboard for sketching | Productivity | 55 000 | €0.018/hr |
| 6 | Cal.com Open-source scheduling for everyone | Productivity | 52 000 | €0.046/hr |
| 7 | Wiki.js Modern wiki with beautiful editing | Productivity | 48 000 | €0.046/hr |
| 8 | Paperless-ngx Go paperless with document archives | Productivity | 39 000 | €0.023/hr |
| 9 | Outline Beautiful team knowledge base | Productivity | 38 000 | €0.046/hr |
| 10 | FreshRSS Self-hosted RSS feed reader | Productivity | 36 000 | €0.018/hr |
| 11 | AppFlowy Open-source Notion alternative | Productivity | 32 000 | €0.046/hr |
| 12 | Wallabag Save web pages & read them later | Productivity | 28 000 | €0.023/hr |
| 13 | ONLYOFFICE Docs A full office suite in the browser | Productivity | 24 000 | €0.092/hr |
| 14 | Shlink Your own URL shortener with stats | Productivity | 24 000 | €0.018/hr |
| 15 | Vikunja Task management, exactly your way | Productivity | 19 000 | €0.023/hr |
| 16 | CryptPad End-to-end encrypted collaboration | Productivity | 18 000 | €0.046/hr |
| 17 | OpenProject Leading open-source project management — agile boards, roadmaps, Gantt & time tracking | Productivity | 6 200 | €0.092/hr |
Which one fits your case
Stirling-PDF
The core loop is what Stirling-PDF does best. It runs comfortably on 1 vCPU / 2 GB here. It tops the table for a reason: the install flow here is one click, and the first hour costs cents.
Plane
The core loop is what Plane does best. Spec: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB disk. Close second, and some teams prefer its take on the problem.
NocoDB
NocoDB covers the essentials without demanding a manual. Spec: 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 25 GB disk. Lesser known, often a better fit for smaller teams.
BookStack
Teams pick BookStack when they need the basics done well. Plan for 1 vCPU and 2 GB of RAM. A niche pick that earns its place.
What it costs to run
None of these need a big machine. Budget roughly €0.092/hour for the largest spec in the table (peak 4 vCPU, 8 GB), and less for the rest. The install wizard pre-selects the right plan for you.
Generated 2026-10-22 from live catalog data · all guides