head to head · open source
open-knowledge vs obsidian-wiki
open-knowledge has 4,781 GitHub stars, 327 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. obsidian-wiki has 3,679 stars, 370 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-knowledge leads on adoption by 30% (4,781 vs 3,679 stars). open-knowledge is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; obsidian-wiki is written in Python under MIT. open-knowledge has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, obsidian-wiki 10%. obsidian-wiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (agent-skills, codex, knowledge-base, llm-wiki), 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
| open-knowledge | obsidian-wiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.8K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 327 | ⑂ 370 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-knowledge if
- You weight community size — 4.8K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick obsidian-wiki if
- You want the obsidian-wiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and obsidian-wiki fits your workflow better
About open-knowledge
OpenKnowledge is a beautiful markdown editor with integrations with Claude, Codex, and other harnesses. For knowledge bases, LLM wikis, specs, and notes. Private, local, and free. website • desktop app • web UI + cli • 𝕏 • discord Features Highlights: Full true WYSIWYG so that editing markdown files feels like editing a Google Doc or Notion page. Desktop app (macOS, Windows, Linux) and web UI with file navigator, search, tabs, graph wiki link viewer, and more. Integrated side by side AI editing with Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Pi and others . Can be used with any harness/agent via MCP/CLI. Out of the box MCP…
read the full open-knowledge overview →
About obsidian-wiki
obsidian wiki A digital brain you grow with your AI agent. It remembers what you figure out, connects it to what you already know, and answers when you ask. English 繁體中文 You solve a hard problem on a Tuesday. Three months later, in a different repo, you solve it again from scratch — because the answer lived in a chat log you'll never find. This fixes that. Point it at a folder, tell your agent what to remember, and it compiles what you learn into interconnected markdown you own. The pattern comes from Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki gist: compile knowledge once and keep it current, instead of asking an LLM the same…
read the full obsidian-wiki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-knowledge or obsidian-wiki more popular?
open-knowledge has 4,781 GitHub stars and obsidian-wiki has 3,679. open-knowledge has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-knowledge and obsidian-wiki free?
Both are open source. open-knowledge is licensed under GPL-3.0 and obsidian-wiki under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-knowledge and obsidian-wiki?
open-knowledge is written in TypeScript and obsidian-wiki 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, open-knowledge or obsidian-wiki?
Choose open-knowledge if you want the larger community (4,781 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose obsidian-wiki if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.