Elephas

What is Elephas?

Elephas is a desktop knowledge workspace where you add PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, spreadsheets, notes, EPUBs, images and web pages to collections called Brains, then ask questions about them. Documents are read and indexed on your own computer, and every answer quotes the passage it came from along with the page, slide, sheet or paragraph. When the answer is not in your files, Elephas says so rather than guessing. Before a question goes to a cloud model, personal details such as names, emails and phone numbers are hidden and restored in the reply. You choose who writes the answers: the included Elephas AI, your own OpenAI or Claude API key, or a model that runs locally on your machine. Optional end-to-end encrypted sync links up to three computers, and Team workspaces add shared Brains with roles and an AI policy. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs. A 7-day trial needs no card. Personal is $19 per month, Professional is $29 per month, and annual billing lowers those to $15 and $24 per month.

Use cases

• Ask questions across your own documents
• Get cited answers from PDFs and slides
• Search scanned documents with OCR
• Keep client files private from cloud AI
• Share knowledge Brains with a team
• Sync document libraries between computers
• Run document Q&A with a local model

Who it's for

• Researchers
• Consultants and lawyers
• Small business teams
• Privacy-conscious professionals

Why use Elephas

• Documents are indexed on your computer, so your library is not uploaded to Elephas.
• Every answer links back to a source passage, which makes claims quick to verify.
• Redaction of names, emails and phone numbers before cloud AI helps with sensitive client material.
• You can switch between included AI, your own key or an on-device model depending on the task.
• Included AI usage is not billed per question, so there are no overage charges.

Elephas features

• Brains that hold your documents for search and Q&A
• Answers with citations to page, slide, sheet or paragraph
• Local indexing on your computer
• Personal details hidden before cloud AI and restored in the answer
• Choice of Elephas AI, your own API key or Local AI
• OCR for scanned PDFs and images
• Supports PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Markdown, CSV, RTF, HTML and EPUB
• Optional end-to-end encrypted sync on Professional and Team
• Team Brains with manager, contributor and reader roles
• Team AI policy and usage caps

Elephas integrations

• OpenAI
• Claude

How to get started with Elephas

1. Download Elephas, sign in and start the 7-day trial, which needs no card.
2. Create a Brain and add your PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, notes or web pages; indexing runs locally.
3. Choose how answers are written in Settings: Elephas AI, your own API key or Local AI.
4. Ask a question and open the cited sources to check the quoted passage.
5. Pick a plan when the trial ends, and turn on sync or invite a team if you need them.

Elephas limitations

• Runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later; the pricing page lists Windows as coming soon
• There is no iPhone or iPad app
• Files are capped at 200 MB each and images at 50 MB
• There is no free plan beyond the 7-day trial, and without a plan you cannot get new answers
• Your own API key cannot be used in Team workspaces

Elephas pricing

Elephas has no free plan, but it offers a free trial. Paid plans start at $15 per month, according to the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026.

Elephas plans

• Personal

  $19/month

  or $180/year ($15/month)

  • 1 computer
  • Elephas AI included each month
  • Your own API key or Local AI
  • Answers with sources

• Professional

  $29/month

  or $288/year ($24/month)

  • Up to 3 computers
  • 2x the included AI usage
  • Optional end-to-end encrypted Personal Sync
  • Everything in Personal

• Team

  $29/seat/month

  or $288/seat/year ($24/month)

  • Shared Team Brains
  • Manager, contributor and reader roles
  • Team AI policy and usage caps
  • AI usage pooled across seats

• Enterprise

  Custom

  • Contract terms
  • Single sign-on
  • Seat counts above a few hundred

Plans as listed on the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026. Prices can change and may vary by country or exclude tax. Check the official pricing page.

Elephas alternatives

The main Elephas alternatives listed on Debuly are Notion AI, AnythingLLM, Guru, remio, AICamp and Fieldworks AI. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

1. 

   AICamp

   Team AI workspace for chatting with several LLMs, sharing prompts, building custom assistants and querying internal documents with admin controls.

   ProductivityChat assistantsAutomation and agents
   Free trialVisit AICamp (official site)
2. 

   AnythingLLM

   Open-source AI app for chatting with your documents and running agents, on desktop, in Docker or as a hosted team workspace.

   Chat assistantsAutomation and agentsDeveloper platforms
   Open sourceVisit AnythingLLM (official site)
3. 

   Fieldworks AI

   Project controls platform for construction teams that reads project documents, runs quality checks and answers questions.

   ProductivityResearch and search
   PaidVisit Fieldworks AI (official site)
4. 

   Guru

   Company knowledge platform that verifies and governs internal information, then serves cited answers to employees and AI tools.

   ProductivityResearch and searchChat assistants
   Contact salesVisit Guru (official site)
5. 

   Notion AI

   AI built into the Notion workspace: agents, enterprise search across connected apps, AI meeting notes and database autofill.

   ProductivityChat assistantsWriting
   Free trialVisit Notion AI (official site)
6. 

   remio

   Desktop AI agent that builds on your files, meetings, emails and research to produce Word, Excel and PowerPoint deliverables.

   ProductivityChat assistantsResearch and search
   FreemiumVisit remio (official site)

Elephas FAQ

Sources & verification

Facts on this page come from the official sources below, each with the date we read it. Written by Debuly; the vendor did not review this page.

Image credits

• Logo: from elephas.app · fetched 23 Oct 2026 · Vendor trademark, used only to identify the product; removed on request
• Cover: none collected yet, so a generated tile is shown.

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