head to head · open source
rea vs synthadoc
rea has 422,352 GitHub stars, 105,329 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. synthadoc has 1,760 stars, 172 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rea leads on adoption by 23,897% (422,352 vs 1,760 stars). rea is written in TypeScript under MIT; synthadoc is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. rea has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, synthadoc 10%. rea was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (agent-skills), 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
| rea | synthadoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 422K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 105K | ⑂ 172 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rea if
- You weight community size — 422K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick synthadoc if
- You want the synthadoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and synthadoc fits your workflow better
About rea
English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Türkçe · Русский · Tiếng Việt · ไทย · Deutsch · Español · Français · Українська · Polski · Português (Brasil) · العربية · فارسی REA: Reverse Engineer Anything One MCP for reverse engineering across binaries, applications, and runtime behavior. See a feature you like. Understand how it works, down to the binary level. Website · Guides · Showcases Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · FAQ · Documentation npx rea agents setup Join the Reverse Engineering Community Discord · Q&A · Show and Tell See a feature in an app that you want in your own product?…
About synthadoc
Synthadoc Document version: v1.5.0 Engineered for solo users and enterprises alike, providing a domain specific knowledge base that scales seamlessly while maintaining accuracy through autonomous self optimization. Built for individuals, small teams, and large organizations who need a knowledge base that stays accurate as documents accumulate. Documentation, FAQ and articles: Synthadoc reads your raw source documents — PDFs, spreadsheets, PPTs, web pages, images, videos, Word files, TXTs, and AI session transcripts (.jsonl) — and uses an LLM to synthesize them into a persistent, structured wiki. Cross references…
read the full synthadoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rea or synthadoc more popular?
rea has 422,352 GitHub stars and synthadoc has 1,760. rea has the larger community by that measure.
Are rea and synthadoc free?
Both are open source. rea is licensed under MIT and synthadoc under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rea and synthadoc?
rea is written in TypeScript and synthadoc 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, rea or synthadoc?
Choose rea if you want the larger community (422,352 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose synthadoc if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.