head to head · open source
serenity vs Deta Surf
serenity has 33,943 GitHub stars, 3,493 forks, 739 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Deta Surf has 3,617 stars, 252 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. serenity leads on adoption by 838% (33,943 vs 3,617 stars). serenity is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; Deta Surf is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. serenity has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Deta Surf 7%. serenity was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| serenity | Deta Surf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 252 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick serenity if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- 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 serenity
SerenityOS Graphical Unix like operating system for 64 bit x86, Arm, and RISC V computers. FAQ Documentation Build Instructions About SerenityOS is a love letter to '90s user interfaces with a custom Unix like core. It flatters with sincerity by stealing beautiful ideas from various other systems. Roughly speaking, the goal is a marriage between the aesthetic of late 1990s productivity software and the power user accessibility of late 2000s \ nix. This is a system by us, for us, based on the things we like. You can watch videos of the system being developed on YouTube: Andreas Kling's channel Linus Groh's…
read the full serenity overview →
About Deta Surf
Website Discord Deta Surf: Your AI Notebook Deta Surf is an AI notebook that brings all your files and the web directly into your stream of thought. It’s meant for simultaneous research and thinking that minimizes the grunt work: manually searching, opening windows & tabs, scrolling, copying and pasting into a document editor. Surf is primarily built in Svelte, TypeScript and Rust, runs on MacOS, Windows & Linux, stores data locally in open formats, and is open source. Motivation Most applications are focused on a single task, or a single media type: notes, websites, or PDFs. Real thinking requires juggling…
read the full Deta Surf overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is serenity or Deta Surf more popular?
serenity has 33,943 GitHub stars and Deta Surf has 3,617. serenity has the larger community by that measure.
Are serenity and Deta Surf free?
Both are open source. serenity is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Deta Surf under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between serenity and Deta Surf?
serenity is written in C++ 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, serenity or Deta Surf?
Choose serenity if you want the larger community (33,943 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Deta Surf if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.