head to head · open source
Khoj vs SurfSense
Khoj has 37,390 GitHub stars, 2,483 forks, 148 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. SurfSense has 16,159 stars, 1,537 forks, 130 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Khoj leads on adoption by 131% (37,390 vs 16,159 stars). Khoj is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; SurfSense is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. Khoj has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, SurfSense 10%. SurfSense was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (agent, ai), 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
| Khoj | SurfSense | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 16K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-08-02 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Khoj if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SurfSense if
- You want the SurfSense feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and SurfSense fits your workflow better
About Khoj
Khoj is a self hostable, open source AI second brain written in Python that turns any local or online large language model into a personal research, automation, and agent platform for individuals, small teams, and enterprises that want their documents and queries kept under their own control.
About SurfSense
SurfSense is an open source NotebookLM alternative and privacy first knowledge base that can work with any AI model chosen by the user. It is a Python productivity and knowledge management project in the agent, RAG, LangChain, LangGraph, FastAPI, Next.js, and Ollama ecosystem. The project presents itself as an open web research platform for AI agents, with live data connectors and a built in knowledge base that keeps findings searchable with citations.
read the full SurfSense overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Khoj or SurfSense more popular?
Khoj has 37,390 GitHub stars and SurfSense has 16,159. Khoj has the larger community by that measure.
Are Khoj and SurfSense free?
Both are open source. Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and SurfSense has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Khoj and SurfSense?
Khoj is written in Python and SurfSense in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Khoj or SurfSense?
Choose Khoj if you want the larger community (37,390 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose SurfSense if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.