Simple, Honest Plans for Independent Thinkers & Teams
Sphene is completely free and unencumbered for local self-hosting. Experience zero-knowledge collaborative sync with our free community trial—no subscriptions, no forced account signups, and zero vendor lock-in.
Solo Thinker
For developers, researchers, and thinkers who demand a completely offline, ultra-fast second brain running entirely on their own hardware.
Everything Included:
- ✓ 100% Local-First: Runs entirely on your personal machine or private homelab
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✓
Plain Markdown on Disk: Standard
.mdfiles readable anywhere - ✓ Fast Relational Search: SQLite FTS5 engine (2.20ms API search, ~180µs raw FTS5)
- ✓ Client-Side Partition Encryption: AES-256-GCM hardware-sealed privacy
- ✓ Interactive 3D Graph: Dynamic bidirectional wikilink visualization
- ✓ Hermes Agent & MCP: Native local AI assistant tooling integration
- ✓ 1-Click Vault Migration: Seamless import from standard desktop markdown vaults
Teams & Family
Zero-knowledge encrypted collaboration. Share notes across co-workers, engineering squads, research partners, and family with zero surveillance.
Collaboration Features Included:
- ✓ 1 Shared Collaborative Workspace*: A private, shared enclave dedicated to your team or family
- ✓ Up to 150 Collaborative Documents*: Over 500,000 words of rich encrypted text—vast capacity for team wikis, project sprints, architecture specs, code snippets, and meeting documentation
- ✓ Device-Level Zero-Knowledge Encryption: Notes are encrypted on your device before leaving it. It is technically impossible for anyone else—including Sphene—to read your words
- ✓ Backed by High-Durability S3 Storage: Enterprise-grade multi-region cloud resilience keeps your shared notes protected against device loss
- ✓ 30-Second Automatic Sync Cadence*: Seamless background synchronization keeping all connected teammate devices updated
- ✓ Instant 1-Click QR Pairing: Invite teammates or connect your mobile devices in seconds with a camera scan—no accounts or passwords to email
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✓
Preloaded Community Key: Comes pre-configured with license key
freeSpheneSync
freeSpheneSync • Free for the community* Fair-Use Community Trial Capacity
These parameters (1 shared workspace, up to 150 collaborative documents containing over 500,000 words, and a 30-second sync interval) are in place to guarantee fair usage of the community sync infrastructure and keep it completely free for everyone exploring the feature. Need unlimited team workspaces, larger document archives, or live 1-second real-time sync? Higher tiers will be introduced in future releases as our infrastructure expands.
Your Notes Are Yours Alone. Always.
Sphene Sync is backed by high-durability S3 storage, but with a critical guarantee: every word is encrypted directly on your device before it ever leaves your hardware. The server only ever handles scrambled cryptographic blocks. No third party, no cloud provider, and not even Sphene engineers can read what you write.
Frequently Asked Questions
Clear answers to common questions about our plans and collaboration.
Is Sphene completely free for individual use?
Yes. The entire Sphene core engine, sub-millisecond search index, client-side encryption, 3D knowledge graph, built-in visual tools, and agent MCP integrations are 100% free and open-format for local self-hosting. There are no trial periods, artificial document limits, or locked features for solo usage.
How does the Teams Collaboration Free Community Trial work?
Every copy of the Sphene app comes preloaded with the community license key freeSpheneSync. This grants instant access to create 1 shared team workspace, sync up to 150 documents (over 500,000 words of rich encrypted text), and connect teammates instantly via QR code or code pairing with a 30-second sync cadence—all backed by high-durability S3 storage at zero cost.
Can Sphene or the storage provider read my shared team notes?
Absolutely not. Sphene utilizes strict device-level zero-knowledge encryption. When you create or join a team, your device derives an encryption key from your team's secret passphrase. All notes are encrypted and decrypted locally on your phone or laptop. Only participants who possess the team passphrase or scanned the team QR code have the cryptographic ability to read the notes.
Do my teammates need to purchase a license to join my team?
No. Teammates and family members can join an existing team room with zero license required. They simply scan the team QR code or enter the Room Code and Passphrase to start collaborating immediately.
Is there any vendor lock-in?
Zero. Every note is saved as a plain Markdown file with standard YAML frontmatter directly in your filesystem. You can inspect, edit, or migrate your notes with any text editor or tool at any time.