Open-Source ChatGPT Export Tools in 2026: What They Really Do (and When to Use Something Else)
Search for a way out of your ChatGPT history and you’ll hit a wall of free GitHub projects before you ever reach a paid product: a declining userscript with 23,000 installs, a modern open-source extension that bulk-exports your entire account, a journalist’s script born because Business accounts can’t export at all, and console gists that dump everything to a ZIP. They are real, they are free, and several are genuinely good — this guide covers each one with credits where due. What this guide also covers, because you deserve the full picture: the specific places where open-source tools quietly stop — readable PDF and Word documents, anything outside ChatGPT, backups that run when you’re not watching — and what it costs you to DIY those yourself. All project details checked against their public repositories and pages on September 16, 2026; open-source projects change fast, so re-verify before relying on this page.
The short answer
- You want raw data out of ChatGPT, free, and you’re comfortable installing things: open-source tools are legitimately enough. The modern ones (chatgpt-helper, scrapemychats) export every conversation including attachments, filter by project or date, and keep processing entirely in your browser — an auditable privacy story many paid tools can’t match.
- You need the export to be a document — a PDF for a client, a .docx for a reviewer, a file that renders code blocks, tables and charts — or you need the same from Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and nine other platforms, or you want backups that run on a schedule and stay searchable: that’s product territory, and no open-source project in the niche currently does it.
- The smart move for a lot of people is a hybrid, and it’s free to try: an OSS bulk dump as your raw-data safety net, plus a daily-driver exporter for documents and automation. We’ll show exactly how to combine them below.
The open-source landscape, one by one
Four projects cover nearly all the search demand for “chatgpt exporter github” and “open source chatgpt export”:
1. chatgpt-exporter (pionxzh) — the original userscript. One-click export of a ChatGPT conversation to Markdown/YAML, thousands of stars, ~23,000 GreasyFork installs. Honest caveat: maintenance has slowed markedly (install velocity is a fraction of its peak), and it works on the rendered page, which struggles with very long threads. Historic, influential, use it knowing its age.
2. chatgpt-helper (D1DX) — the current-generation OSS extension. Authenticates with your live ChatGPT session and calls the same web APIs the interface uses: bulk export of all conversations in six formats (JSON, JSONL, Markdown, HTML, CSV, TXT), filters by project, date range, keyword and archived/active status, and attachment downloads packaged in ~100 MB ZIP volumes with an attachment index. All client-side, no telemetry. As a raw archive tool it is excellent.
3. scrapemychats — written by a freelance journalist specifically because OpenAI doesn’t offer the standard data export for Business and Enterprise workspaces (coverage in tech press, July 2026). Archives your accessible chats plus file attachments into a local, offline-browsable HTML archive. Single-purpose, technical, and it solves a real gap.
4. Console gists (e.g. Get-Safer’s script) — paste-into-devtools or run-with-curl utilities that fetch every conversation plus uploaded/generated files into JSON + Markdown + HTML + ZIP. Maximum transparency, zero interface: the DIY option for people who read code first.
Where the open-source tools stop (the honest list)
None of these criticisms are moral failures — they’re scope. But scope is what you’re buying around:
| Need | OSS tools | Typical paid exporter (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk raw export (JSON/MD/CSV) | ✅ Best in class | Partially (some add bulk, none as flexible) |
| Attachments & generated files | ✅ (helper: ZIP volumes; scrapemychats: yes) | Varies |
| Readable, share-ready PDF | ❌ | ✅ server-rendered docs |
| Editable Word (.docx) with tables/code/math intact | ❌ | ✅ (XWX generates locally; AI Exporter caps free tier) |
| Non-ChatGPT platforms (Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek…) | ❌ | ✅ up to 13–15 platforms (XWX, AI Exporter) |
| Scheduled / incremental backup that runs itself | ❌ (you are the cron job) | ✅ only via desktop app (XWX Backup) |
| Search across archived chats | Partially (scrapemychats’ HTML viewer) | ✅ full-text vault with highlights (XWX) |
| Obsidian/Notion sync, YAML with AI tags | MD files you manage yourself | ✅ direct sync + frontmatter (XWX) |
| Someone answers when OpenAI ships a UI change | Community issues, eventually | Support email, usually days |
The structural point: OSS tools excel at getting data out once, raw. Everything after that — formatting, multi-platform coverage, automation, searching later, maintenance when platforms change — is manual labor you own, forever. That labor is cheap if you enjoy it and expensive if you don’t.
How to decide in two minutes
| Your situation | Best-fit route |
|---|---|
| “I want my data in git as JSONL, I’ll script the rest” | chatgpt-helper — free, six formats, filters |
| “My company workspace has no export button” | scrapemychats for a personal archive now; a desktop backup app for the recurring version (see our Business & Enterprise guide) |
| “One beautiful PDF, today, to email someone” | Any paid-tier exporter; free tier of XWX works (daily quota) or the OSS HTML view for raw |
| “200 chats across ChatGPT + Claude + Gemini, always backed up, searchable” | Backup-engine shape: extension + desktop scheduler (how it works) |
| “Free and I have no needs yet” | Start with XWX’s free plan for unlimited Markdown/TXT/JSON exports and daily PDF/Word/Notion quotas — it coexists with every OSS tool above |
The hybrid setup (and yes, we’re serious about it)
Because raw dumps and readable documents are different jobs, the strongest free-plus setup uses both sides of this market:
- Quarterly raw snapshot — OSS. Run chatgpt-helper’s bulk export (or a console gist) into
raw/chats.jsonl; commit or zip it anywhere. This is your cryptographic-grade “the provider can never hold my history hostage” layer, independent of any vendor including us. - Daily working layer — a live exporter. The conversations you actually reuse become Markdown with YAML front matter in your notes, one-click PDF/Word for delivery, and scheduled incremental backups so the gap between “raw snapshot” and “today” never grows.
- Verification, both directions. Search your archive for a phrase you know exists; open the OSS JSON for the same chat. If both agree, your backup story is real.
If step 1 already covers 100% of your needs — pure archive, no documents, no automation, no other platforms — you can stop there and pay nothing. That is genuinely the right call for some people, and saying so is cheaper than pretending otherwise.
자주 묻는 질문
Is there an open-source ChatGPT exporter?+
Yes, several: pionxzh/chatgpt-exporter (the original userscript), D1DX/chatgpt-helper (bulk export, six formats, filters, attachments), scrapemychats (offline HTML archive, useful where Business workspaces have no export), and various console gists. All are free and process data locally; none produce polished PDFs, cover other AI platforms, or run scheduled backups.
Is chatgpt-helper safe to use with my ChatGPT account?+
It runs in your own logged-in browser session, calls ChatGPT’s web endpoints client-side, and ships no telemetry — you can read the source. The real caveat is any unofficial tool: a platform interface change can break it until a maintainer fixes it, which is the maintenance cost you accept when choosing OSS.
Can open-source tools export attachments and generated files?+
The best ones do. chatgpt-helper downloads files referenced by your export into ~100 MB ZIP volumes with an index; scrapemychats archives accessible attachments into its local HTML archive. This raw-file coverage is exactly where OSS tools match or beat paid products.
Why would I pay when GitHub has free exporters?+
You’re not paying for extraction — you’re paying for what happens after: readable PDF/Word output, thirteen platforms, backups that keep running on a schedule, searchable local archives, and fixes shipped when OpenAI changes something. If you don’t need those, free genuinely suffices; the hybrid above pairs OSS dumps with a light paid layer.
What’s the best free ChatGPT export in 2026?+
For raw data: chatgpt-helper, no contest. For everyday readable export: XWX’s free plan — unlimited Markdown, TXT, JSON and clipboard, daily quotas for PDF, Word and Notion, with no account required for the local formats.