head to head · open source
SurfSense vs obsidian-mind
SurfSense has 16,169 GitHub stars, 1,538 forks, 130 open issues and last shipped yesterday. obsidian-mind has 4,653 stars, 532 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. SurfSense leads on adoption by 247% (16,169 vs 4,653 stars). SurfSense is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; obsidian-mind is written in TypeScript under MIT. SurfSense has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, obsidian-mind 11%. SurfSense 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.
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Side by side
| SurfSense | obsidian-mind | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 532 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SurfSense if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick obsidian-mind if
- You want the obsidian-mind feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and obsidian-mind fits your workflow better
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 →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SurfSense or obsidian-mind more popular?
SurfSense has 16,169 GitHub stars and obsidian-mind has 4,653. SurfSense has the larger community by that measure.
Are SurfSense and obsidian-mind free?
Both are open source. SurfSense has no licence declared in this registry, and obsidian-mind is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between SurfSense and obsidian-mind?
SurfSense is written in Python and obsidian-mind 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, SurfSense or obsidian-mind?
Choose SurfSense if you want the larger community (16,169 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose obsidian-mind if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.