The latest articles on Forem by I-Am-Krishn (@iamkrishn). https://forem.com/iamkrishn https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3627521%2F8dea1a75-25df-4b76-8c02-4020d745d12f.png https://forem.com/iamkrishn en I-Am-Krishn Mon, 24 Nov 2025 14:10:03 +0000 https://forem.com/iamkrishn/stop-paying-for-saas-the-ultimate-open-source-free-stack-1b78 https://forem.com/iamkrishn/stop-paying-for-saas-the-ultimate-open-source-free-stack-1b78 <p>As developers (and especially as students), we often fall into the trap of signing up for a dozen "free tier" SaaS products.</p> <ul> <li> <strong>Notion</strong> for notes.</li> <li> <strong>Jira</strong> for tasks.</li> <li> <strong>Vercel</strong> for hosting.</li> <li> <strong>Slack</strong> for chat.</li> </ul> <p>It works great... until you hit a paywall, or they change their pricing, or you realize you don't actually own any of your data.</p> <p>I decided to fix this.</p> <p>Over the last few weeks, I curated a massive list of <strong>Open Source</strong> alternatives to the most popular SaaS tools. These are tools you can self-host, run locally, or use for free without giving away your privacy.</p> <p>I call it <strong><a href="https://github.com/I-Am-Krishn/free-stack" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Free Stack</a></strong>.</p> <p>Here are 5 of my favorite discoveries from the list:</p> <h2> 1. AppFlowy (Notion Alternative) </h2> <p>If you love Notion but hate that it's cloud-only, check out <strong>AppFlowy</strong>. It's built with Rust and Flutter, meaning it's blazingly fast. You have 100% control over your data.</p> <h2> 2. Coolify (Vercel/Heroku Alternative) </h2> <p>This is a game changer. <strong>Coolify</strong> is an all-in-one PaaS that helps you self-host your own applications, databases, and services. It connects to your GitHub and deploys automatically.</p> <h2> 3. Penpot (Figma Alternative) </h2> <p>Designers, rejoice. <strong>Penpot</strong> is the first open-source design and prototyping platform meant for cross-domain teams. It is SVG-based and works right in the browser.</p> <h2> 4. Supabase (Firebase Alternative) </h2> <p>You probably know this one, but it deserves the hype. <strong>Supabase</strong> gives you a Postgres database, Authentication, instant APIs, and Realtime subscriptions.</p> <h2> 5. Typebot (Typeform Alternative) </h2> <p>Stop paying huge monthly fees just to have a conversational form on your site. <strong>Typebot</strong> is a visual conversational form builder that you can host yourself.</p> <h2> The Full List </h2> <p>I have compiled <strong>50+ tools</strong> covering:</p> <ul> <li>🏰 Project Management</li> <li>💬 Communication</li> <li>🛠️ Dev Tools</li> <li>📊 Analytics</li> <li>🔒 Privacy</li> </ul> <p>You can find the full list on GitHub here:</p> <h3> 👉 <a href="https://github.com/I-Am-Krishn/free-stack" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Free Stack on GitHub</a> </h3> <p>If you found this useful, dropping a <strong>Star ⭐</strong> on the repo really helps others find these tools!</p> <p><em>Let me know in the comments: What is your favorite self-hosted tool that I missed?</em></p> opensource productivity webdev showdev