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Show HN: Open-Source Alternative to DocSend
hey hn, i’m alana, founder of basecase and creator of docbase www.getdocbase.com
docbase is an open-source alternative to docsend, which lets you securely share documents and track engagement in real-time.
with docbase, you can upload any document, get a secure link (with or without a password or expiration date), and view who interacts with it and when. one main use case is for founders to send their memos/decks to potential investors. as a founder and investor myself, it’s a tool i use all the time to both send and receive pitch documents.
the idea came from a tweet [0], which immediately made me ping @kiwicopple with excitement. i raced to put together a very basic version 1.0 in a few days and launched it last night. luckily, it actually wasn’t too difficult using supabase for the database, authentication, and storage, next.js app router, shadcn ui [1], and vercel hosting.
i’m already working on some updates for version 2.0, like improving page load performance, adding notifications, and enriching analytics. it’s entirely open-source [2], so anyone can contribute and help me make it better.
i’d love your feedback, so hit me up on github or twitter with your thoughts!
[0] https://twitter.com/mfts0/status/1660980644065730561?s=20 https://twitter.com/mfts0/status/1660980644065730561?s=20
[1] https://ui.shadcn.com/ https://ui.shadcn.com/
[2] https://github.com/alanagoyal/docbase https://github.com/alanagoyal/docbase
- ankrgyl 3y agoGreat to see popular SaaS use cases commoditized and opened up like this. After product categories start to fossilize into a standard UX + features, the benefits of using an expensive vendor start to decrease.
- alanaan 3y agoexactly. docsend is a great product, but once my free trial ended i didn’t want to pay $20/mo just to send documents. maybe i’m cheap ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- swyx 3y agothat was so smooth to sign up! https://www.getdocbase.com/links/b8eaa394-ece4-4c03-b88e-b3e62c31ea73 https://www.getdocbase.com/links/b8eaa394-ece4-4c03-b88e-b3e... one issue is that i typed in a random email and got the link anyway. so maybe some email verification or SSO signup is needed.
- alanaan 3y agoyou can choose to set a password for that reason :) it should have at least verified you entered an accurate email tho?
- sarupbanskota 3y agowhat was the most challenging thing about making this?
- alanaan 3y agobuilding with the new app router is still pretty challenging for me (esp getting it to work with other services like supabase auth)
- iammukunthan 3y agoGreat job on releasing an open-source alternative to DocSend and choosing the MIT license! It's exciting to witness the rise of self-hosted open-source software with a hosted paid offering. Keep up the good work.