Pricing
The app and every update are free, forever, with no account, no trial clock and no usage cap. A licence adds the scraper plugins and priority support, and a 30-day one comes with the app.
Prefer to build it yourself? The source is public, and self-building is free too.
Free
$0
Includes a 30-day licence, no card
The app and every update, forever. No account, no expiry.
- The full app on Windows, macOS and Linux
- Runs offline; your sources stay on your disk
- Bring your own model keys, or run a local model
- A 30-day licence for the plugins, sent by email
- Open source, so you can build it yourself
IndividualMost popular
$60/year
First year, then $120.
Adds the scraper plugins and priority support for one person.
- Everything in Free
- Every scraper plugin: 9 platforms and the web crawler
- Unlimited, with no per-item metering and no credits to buy
- Priority support
Enterprise
Custom
Annual, invoiced
The same app, run inside your own network and bought on a contract.
- Everything in Individual, for everyone
- No egress at all: licensing and plugins mirrored inside your network
- You decide which models and destinations everyone can reach
- A local audit log of every outbound call
- Installers your IT rolls out, pinned to a version you choose
- Connectors built for your internal systems
- Named support on an agreed response time
No plugin ships in version 2.0. The first one will be the hosted scraper API, covering all nine platforms and the web crawler, installed from inside the app once the plugin system is ready.
A handful of people do not need an enterprise agreement. Buy an Individual licence each: there is no minimum, no seat count to manage, and everyone gets their own file. Enterprise is about how you deploy SurfSense, not how many people use it. Talk to us.
FAQ
Questions about licences
Is SurfSense free?
Yes. The app and all of its updates are free forever, with no account, no trial clock and no usage cap. You download it, install it, and use it. A paid licence is only needed for the scraper plugins and priority support; everything the app itself does stays free.
What does a paid licence add?
A licence unlocks priority support and the scraper plugins: nine platform connectors plus the web crawler. Plugins are unlimited at a flat price, so nothing is metered per item and there is no credit balance to top up. The licence does not lock any of the app's own features.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. A 30-day licence comes with the free plan. It needs only an email address, with no card and no account. You receive a licence file by email, drop it into the app, and every plugin is unlocked for 30 days. The clock starts when the first plugin ships rather than when you ask for the file, so waiting for it costs you nothing.
Does the $60 early-bird price renew at $60?
No. The $60 covers the first year; it renews at the $120 list price. The early-bird window itself is open for 30 days after launch, so $60 is the first-year price for anyone who buys inside it. Enterprise agreements are priced separately.
What do you offer enterprises?
Enterprise is a deployment, not a bigger plan. It covers running SurfSense with no egress at all, with licensing and the plugin endpoints mirrored inside your own network. It also covers model and network policy you set centrally, a local audit log of outbound calls, installers your IT rolls out on a version you pin, connectors for your internal systems, and named support on an agreed response time. Pricing comes out of a conversation and is invoiced annually against a contract. Google's comparable product, NotebookLM Enterprise, publishes no price either, and is sold through Google Cloud in subscriptions of 15 to 5,000 licences.
What happens when my licence expires?
The app keeps working. A licence expiry never disables SurfSense: your documents, your index and every local feature carry on exactly as before. Only the scraper plugins stop, because they are the part that runs against our servers. Renewing is a new licence file.
Do I need an account to buy?
No. There is no account anywhere in the purchase flow. Checkout collects an email address, the licence file is sent to it and also offered on the confirmation page, and you can have it resent to that same address at any time.
Can I run NotebookLM locally?
No. NotebookLM is a Google cloud service: it requires a Google account, uploads your sources to Google's servers, and cannot be installed on your own machine. Running the same workflow locally means using an alternative built for it, such as SurfSense, which keeps sources and answers on your computer.