--- title: "SurfSense v0.0.16 - Try SurfSense With No Login, Long-Term Memory, Token Tracking & AI File Sorting" description: "SurfSense v0.0.16 introduces a no-login online experience so anyone can try this free ChatGPT alternative in seconds, long-term user and team memory, a reworked model selector with full token usage tracking, AI-powered file sorting, one-click Knowledge Base export as ZIP, trusted MCP tools, and OpenRouter integration." date: "2026-04-16" tags: ["No Login", "Memory", "Token Usage", "AI File Sorting", "KB Export", "OpenRouter", "MCP"] version: "0.0.16" --- ## What's New in v0.0.16 If you've ever wanted to try an **online ChatGPT alternative** or a **free AI chatbot like ChatGPT** without creating an account, v0.0.16 is for you. This release makes SurfSense instantly accessible with a **no-login** online experience, adds durable long-term memory for users and teams, brings full token-usage visibility to every chat, introduces AI file sorting, and ships a brand-new knowledge base export feature. It turns SurfSense into an even more practical **free alternative to ChatGPT** for real knowledge work. ### No-Login Online Experience - **ChatGPT Online, No Login Required**: Try SurfSense online for free without signing up. First-time visitors can chat and test the **free ChatGPT alternative** experience instantly, with free tokens included. - **Anonymous-Friendly**: Sign-in is now optional on the public experience, while your authenticated data stays fully protected. - **Cleaner Behind the Scenes**: Removed leftover artifacts from the older sync system for a smoother experience. ### Long-Term Memory for Users & Teams SurfSense agents now actually **remember**. - **Personal & Team Memory**: SurfSense can now remember durable information about you and your team across chats, stored cleanly as markdown you can read and edit yourself. - **Natural Greetings**: Memory now includes your display name and first-name context, so replies feel more personal. - **One Simple Memory Tool**: A single, unified "update memory" action handles personal and shared memory, with sensible size limits. - **Runs in the Background**: Memory extraction happens in the background, so it never slows down your chat. - **Smart Team Memory Policy**: Team memory only captures durable, relevant context and ignores noise, so shared memory stays useful. - **Memory Management UI**: A clean screen for viewing, pinning, and editing personal and team memory, with helpful empty states and limit warnings. - **Export Memory as Markdown**: Download your personal or team memory as a markdown file with one click. - **Clean Migration**: Old memory storage has been fully migrated to the new format. ### Token Usage Tracking Across Chat Token visibility is now first-class. - **Usage Per Call**: SurfSense now tracks how many tokens every AI call uses. - **Complete Coverage**: Token usage is captured for both streaming and non-streaming AI responses. - **Inline in Chat**: See token usage for any message via a simple info dropdown on the message itself. - **Better Response Handling**: Cleaner response behavior and chat title generation built around token tracking. ### Reworked Model Selector - **Redesigned Model Picker**: A cleaner UI with a new GitHub Models icon and per-agent model management for power users. - **OpenRouter Integration**: Hundreds of models (including **free Claude**-compatible routes) are now available through a single OpenRouter configuration. - **Clearer Model Display**: Message info now shows which model was used for every reply, with simpler settings and improved icons. ### AI File Sorting - **AI Sort Button**: A new AI-powered sort in the documents table. Let the AI rank and group your documents semantically. It's a real quality-of-life win for anyone with a large knowledge base. ### Knowledge Base Export - **Export Your Knowledge Base as ZIP**: One click downloads your entire knowledge base as a ZIP with your folder structure preserved. - **Folder-Level Export**: Right-click any folder to export just that folder. - **Processing Warning**: SurfSense warns you if documents are still processing, so you never ship an incomplete archive. - **Prominent Export Buttons**: Export is easy to find in both the documents toolbar and the sidebar, with a loading spinner during large exports. ### Trusted MCP Tools - **Trust Sensitive Tools Once**: Mark specific MCP tools as trusted and skip repeated approval prompts for actions you've already decided are safe. - **Cleanup on Delete**: Removing an MCP connector now correctly clears related caches, so stale entries never hang around. ### Document Upload & Processing Modes - **Pick Your Processing Mode**: Document uploads now let you choose how each file is parsed, with clearer error messages if something goes wrong. - **LlamaCloud v2**: Upgraded to the new LlamaCloud integration. - **Smarter Image Handling**: Uploaded images now automatically go through a vision model, with a document-parser fallback and clearer behavior when vision models aren't configured. ### Code Execution Sandbox - **Cleaner Code Tool**: The built-in "execute code" tool is simpler and more reliable, with helpful hints when your code produces no output. - **Run in Parallel, Download Files**: The sandbox now supports multi-threaded execution and lets you download files produced by your code back into chat. - **No More Orphans**: Broken sandboxes are cleaned up before a replacement is created, so nothing piles up in the background. - **Hardened Security**: Tighter security settings, safer file syncing, and a fix for potential path traversal issues. ### Unified Approvals - **One Approval Flow Everywhere**: Approvals across Confluence, Dropbox, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Jira, Linear, Notion, and OneDrive are now consistent, with a shared approval UI. - **Smarter Deduplication**: Duplicate approval requests are filtered out, so you're never prompted twice for the same action. ### Connectors & Desktop - **Obsidian Connector Visibility**: The Obsidian connector is now easier to discover and set up on desktop. - **Cross-OS Download Buttons**: The sidebar profile and a new download button automatically show the right desktop installer for your OS, in your language. ### Marketing & SEO - **New Blog Section**: Added a dedicated blog section to the marketing site for deeper guides on **ChatGPT alternatives**, **Claude alternatives**, and **NotebookLM alternatives**. - **Improved SEO Metadata**: Updated metadata across key pages to emphasize privacy, data limits, and open source positioning. - **Pricing FAQ**: New FAQ section in pricing with dynamic questions. - **Pricing Clarity**: Updated pricing to clearly show the 500 pages included in the free plan. ### UI Polish - **Safer Error Recovery**: A dedicated error boundary around the dashboard prevents isolated errors from crashing the full page. - **Animated Report Skeleton**: A new animated loading state in the Report Panel while reports are being generated. - **Composer & Layout**: Loading placeholders in the composer, a better mention picker experience, and refined settings layout. - **Better Editing**: Trailing empty lines in the rich-text editor make long-form writing smoother. Bug Fixes
  • Fixed knowledge base search being skipped in certain chat sequences
  • Fixed a button nesting issue in the mobile upload area
  • Clearer logs and behavior when a vision model isn't available vs. not configured
  • Added a safety check for very large images before vision processing
  • Better fallback when an image can't be processed by the vision model
  • Fixed duplicate filename collisions during folder upload
  • Cleaner filenames on folder uploads
  • More accurate "documents still processing" warning during folder export
  • Handled display names that are just whitespace without crashing
  • Added user feedback when snapshot deletion fails
  • Updated billing text to reflect 500 pages included in demo plans
 Under the Hood
  • Old memory storage fully migrated and retired
  • Smaller bundles on public marketing pages
  • Consistent approval handling across all connectors
  • Cleaner file type detection using explicit, well-defined rules
  • Rich-text editor now powers memory input, with inline alerts and a better layout
  • Localized folder-upload messages and download button text
 v0.0.16 makes SurfSense the easiest open source AI assistant to actually try: zero friction, no login, online. Whether you're searching for a **ChatGPT alternative free online**, a **free Claude AI alternative**, or a **NotebookLM alternative** you can self-host, SurfSense v0.0.16 is built for you. SurfSense connects all your knowledge sources in one place.