head to head · open source
OpenViking vs leafwiki
OpenViking has 41,383 GitHub stars, 3,362 forks, 999 open issues and last shipped yesterday. leafwiki has 1,213 stars, 102 forks, 41 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenViking leads on adoption by 3,312% (41,383 vs 1,213 stars). OpenViking is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; leafwiki is written in Go under MIT. OpenViking has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, leafwiki 8%. leafwiki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (knowledge-base), 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
| OpenViking | leafwiki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 102 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick OpenViking if
- You weight community size — 41K 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 leafwiki if
- You want the leafwiki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and leafwiki fits your workflow better
About OpenViking
The Context Database for AI Agents English / 中文 / 日本語 Website · Live Demo · GitHub · Issues · Docs · Blog Lark · WeChat · Discord · X What is OpenViking OpenViking is an open source context database for AI agents — one filesystem for everything an agent knows: knowledge, memory, and skills. Most agent memory is a black box: text goes in, embeddings come out, and nobody can see what was actually stored. OpenViking organizes context as a virtual filesystem under viking:// instead. Agents navigate it like files — ls , tree , read , write , grep — and you can open any directory to inspect and edit what your agent…
read the full OpenViking overview →
About leafwiki
🌿 LeafWiki Self hosted wiki. Single Go binary. SQLite + Markdown stored on disk. For engineers and self hosters who want structured, long lived documentation. No Node.js, no Redis, no Postgres — just a binary and a data directory. If you've looked at Wiki.js or Outline and thought "this is too much to operate for what I need" — this could fit for you. → Try it without installing: demo.leafwiki.com · Ctrl+E edit · Ctrl+S save · resets hourly → If it fits, a star helps others find it. → All install options (Docker Compose, Linux installer, binary) Table of Contents Features Good fit / not a fit Install Docker…
read the full leafwiki overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is OpenViking or leafwiki more popular?
OpenViking has 41,383 GitHub stars and leafwiki has 1,213. OpenViking has the larger community by that measure.
Are OpenViking and leafwiki free?
Both are open source. OpenViking is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and leafwiki under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between OpenViking and leafwiki?
OpenViking is written in Python and leafwiki in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, OpenViking or leafwiki?
Choose OpenViking if you want the larger community (41,383 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose leafwiki if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.