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Apache-2.0 educational visualisation from Nikolay Samokhvalov that renders PostgreSQL internals as an explorable 3D city you fly around in the browser, mapping tables, indexes, the buffer cache and the write-ahead log onto streets and buildings so you can watch how a query actually moves through the engine. Pitched by its author as an independent, non-commercial learning project, entirely free with the full source on GitHub. 493 stars
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Apache-2.0 open-source hardware camera project (kaloyaan on GitHub) built around a colour ePaper display, making a camera that shows only one photo at a time and takes its time to develop each frame with no live preview, so shooting feels closer to film than to a phone. The firmware and the details to build your own are on GitHub. Free and open source. 315 stars
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Ground-up relaunch of CodePen, the browser-based front-end playground, rebuilt around a new editor with the headline change that every Pen is now deployable to its own live URL rather than only an embeddable demo. Closed-source and commercial, from the original CodePen team; there is a free tier, PRO plans run from $96 to $312 a year, and the older lightweight editor stays available for people who preferred it.
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Apache-2.0 inference engine from drumih that runs Google's Gemma 4 26B-A4B model in around 2GB of RAM on any M-series MacBook through heavy quantisation, so a large open model runs fully on-device with no cloud calls. Written in Swift, free and open source. 4.3k stars
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Open-source centralised policy manager for Linux desktops from eniac111, made of a lightweight Go agent and a central server that streams policy changes to machines in real time over mTLS and gRPC instead of polling, covering Firefox, Chrome, KDE, dconf, polkit and package management, with v0.8 adding Thunderbird, Microsoft Edge and FirewallD. The maker describes it as open source, though the repository currently ships no LICENSE file, so it is technically all rights reserved as of August 2026. Free and self-hosted. 116 stars
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MIT-licensed voice dictation app for macOS from Frigade that transcribes speech entirely on-device using Apple's built-in Speech framework, so there is no model to download and nothing leaves the Mac. It runs as a small menu-bar tool you trigger with a hotkey to dictate into any app. Free and open source. 333 stars
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MIT-licensed local-first desktop app from MemTensor that acts as a shared memory hub for your AI coding assistants, capturing conversation history across tools like Claude Code, Cursor and Codex and injecting the relevant context back in when you switch from one assistant to another. Free and open source; it bundles a two-million-token free trial of a hosted model, while the app itself carries no paid tier. 533 stars
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Closed-source guitar tutor for iPhone, iPad and Mac from SoundGate Technologies that listens through the microphone or a plugged-in guitar and gives real-time feedback on your pitch, timing and technique, with lessons that adapt as you improve. Free during early access with every feature unlocked and no in-app purchases or subscription at all right now.
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Browser-based vector animation editor from LottieFiles, pitched as an After Effects for the web, for designing and exporting Lottie and dotLottie files with a timeline editor, reusable motion tokens, state machines and an AI motion assistant. The Lottie format and its renderers are open source, but the Creator editor itself is a closed commercial tool. There is a free tier, then Individual at $19.99 a month and Team at $24.99 a month, with Enterprise from around $119.99 a month.
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AGPL-3.0 self-hosted manager and web player for retro game libraries by zurdi15, launched here at version 5.0 with a ground-up interface redesign, a new save-sync engine, server-side ROM patching and controller and touch support. It scans and organises your collection with box art and metadata and lets you play in the browser. Free and self-hosted, with donations through Open Collective. 11.9k stars
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MIT-licensed offline-first writing app for novelists by Adam Brown, built around scenes, notes and a story outline that all live on your own machine, now shipping an official multi-arch Docker image that turns its optional sync server into a roughly five-minute self-hosted setup. The app and self-hosted sync are free; an official hosted sync at hammer.ink is offered through Patreon from about 3.40 US dollars a month. 542 stars
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MIT-licensed self-hosted map and trip planner by itskovacs for tracking places you have been and planning multi-day trips, keeping your points of interest on a private map with no telemetry or ads, launched here at version 1.47 which adds an API key, an MCP server, bookings and Markdown notes. Free and open source, with donations through Ko-fi. 1.8k stars