head to head · open source
BrowserOS vs Deta Surf
BrowserOS has 13,718 GitHub stars, 1,459 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Deta Surf has 3,572 stars, 251 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 27 days ago. BrowserOS leads on adoption by 284% (13,718 vs 3,572 stars). BrowserOS is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Deta Surf is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. BrowserOS has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Deta Surf 7%. BrowserOS was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (llm, ollama), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| BrowserOS | Deta Surf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 251 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick BrowserOS if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Deta Surf if
- You want the Deta Surf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Deta Surf fits your workflow better
About BrowserOS
BrowserOS is an open source agentic browser, written in TypeScript under AGPL 3.0, that puts AI agents inside a real Chromium browser on the user's own machine so they can work with real logged in accounts, and it is aimed at people who already use an agent harness such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any MCP agent and want that agent to handle web tasks instead of a sandbox.
read the full BrowserOS overview →
About Deta Surf
Deta Surf is an open source AI notebook and browser workspace. It combines tabs, split view, a sidebar, local files, web pages, and generated notes in one application. The project lives in the productivity and browser extension ecosystem, and it is built primarily with Svelte, TypeScript, and Rust. It runs on MacOS, Windows, and Linux.
read the full Deta Surf overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is BrowserOS or Deta Surf more popular?
BrowserOS has 13,718 GitHub stars and Deta Surf has 3,572. BrowserOS has the larger community by that measure.
Are BrowserOS and Deta Surf free?
Both are open source. BrowserOS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Deta Surf under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between BrowserOS and Deta Surf?
BrowserOS is written in TypeScript and Deta Surf in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, BrowserOS or Deta Surf?
Choose BrowserOS if you want the larger community (13,718 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Deta Surf if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.