head to head · open source
obsidian-mind vs pm-brain
obsidian-mind has 4,653 GitHub stars, 532 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. pm-brain has 872 stars, 171 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. obsidian-mind leads on adoption by 434% (4,653 vs 872 stars). obsidian-mind is written in TypeScript under MIT; pm-brain is written in Python under MIT. obsidian-mind has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, pm-brain 20%. obsidian-mind was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (claude-code, second-brain), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| obsidian-mind | pm-brain | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.7K | ★ 872 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-02 | 2026-05-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 532 | ⑂ 171 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick obsidian-mind if
- You weight community size — 4.7K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pm-brain if
- You want the pm-brain feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pm-brain fits your workflow better
About obsidian-mind
obsidian mind is a self organizing Obsidian vault template that gives AI coding agents persistent memory, built for developers and knowledge workers who run Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Gemini CLI and want every session to build on the last.
read the full obsidian-mind overview →
About pm-brain
PM Brain is an MIT licensed Claude Code skill that gives a product manager a second brain made of plain markdown files in a local folder, which Claude reads before answering, writes to after, and sweeps every Friday.
read the full pm-brain overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Note Taking & Knowledge Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Note Taking & Knowledge Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is obsidian-mind or pm-brain more popular?
obsidian-mind has 4,653 GitHub stars and pm-brain has 872. obsidian-mind has the larger community by that measure.
Are obsidian-mind and pm-brain free?
Both are open source. obsidian-mind is licensed under MIT and pm-brain under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between obsidian-mind and pm-brain?
obsidian-mind is written in TypeScript and pm-brain 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, obsidian-mind or pm-brain?
Choose obsidian-mind if you want the larger community (4,653 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pm-brain if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.