This is a watchlist, not an automatic recommendation engine. New projects are collected for review first. Nothing should be treated as recommended until it has been checked.
Last reviewed: 27 September 2026.
Review status#
- Recommended — tested or carefully reviewed and suitable for normal use.
- Worth testing — promising, but still needs hands-on testing.
- Watching — interesting or early; not ready to recommend.
- Rejected — reviewed and not suitable at this time.
Already recommended or in active use#
Jellyfin, Immich, Syncthing, Uptime Kuma, Beszel and Karakeep are in active use. Their notes are on the app shelf.
Forgejo and Mealie have also been tested but are not current choices; the app shelf records that distinction.
Under review#
| Project | Status | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|
| Open WebUI | Watching | Interesting local-AI interface, but not yet tested here. |
| Linkwarden | Watching | Similar preservation use case, but not tested here. |
| Stirling PDF | Watching | Capable PDF toolkit, but it appears heavier than BentoPDF for this use case. |
| Miniflux | Watching | A focused RSS reader, but FreshRSS has been used here instead. |
| Awesome Self-Hosted | Watching | A useful catalogue, but entries still need individual checking. |
| Plausible Community Edition | Worth testing | A cookie-free, privacy-first analytics option under AGPLv3. Fits the privacy stance here, but still needs hands-on testing. |
| Blinko | Watching | A self-hosted, privacy-first AI note tool using a local model. Early-stage and security-sensitive; AGPL-licensed (network-clause applies to modified deployments) and not yet tested here. |
How something gets recommended#
A project must first be found, then reviewed. I look for a clear licence, useful documentation, sustained maintenance, a sensible release history, responsive issue handling, safe deployment instructions, data export and a workable backup/restore path.
A project can be popular and still be rejected. A project can also be small and useful, but remain in Watching until it has had enough time to prove itself.
See the review method for the full checklist.