head to head · open source
slate vs Deta Surf
slate has 31,746 GitHub stars, 3,306 forks, 653 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. Deta Surf has 3,617 stars, 252 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. slate leads on adoption by 778% (31,746 vs 3,617 stars). slate is written in TypeScript under MIT; Deta Surf is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. slate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Deta Surf 7%. slate 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| slate | Deta Surf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-28 | 2026-08-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 252 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick slate if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT 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 slate
A completely customizable framework for building rich text editors. Why? · Principles · Demo · Examples · Documentation · Contributing! Slate lets you build rich, intuitive editors like those in Medium, Dropbox Paper or Google Docs—which are becoming table stakes for applications on the web—without your codebase getting mired in complexity. It can do this because all of its logic is implemented with a series of plugins, so you aren't ever constrained by what is or isn't in "core". You can think of it like a pluggable implementation of contenteditable built on top of React. It was inspired by libraries like…
read the full slate 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 →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is slate or Deta Surf more popular?
slate has 31,746 GitHub stars and Deta Surf has 3,617. slate has the larger community by that measure.
Are slate and Deta Surf free?
Both are open source. slate is licensed under MIT and Deta Surf under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between slate and Deta Surf?
slate 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, slate or Deta Surf?
Choose slate if you want the larger community (31,746 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Deta Surf if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.