--- title: "deepwiki-open vs surf" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open-vs-deta-surf" tools: ["asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open", "deta-surf"] --- # deepwiki-open vs surf *GraphCanon updated Sep 20, 2026* ## Verdict Pick deepwiki-open if deepWiki-open is an AI-powered tool designed to automate documentation creation for repositories on GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket; pick surf if surf is an open-source tool for managing personal notes by integrating local or remote AI models to process files and webpages. [deepwiki-open](https://grok-wiki.com/) reports 18k GitHub stars, 2.0k forks, and 269 open issues, last pushed Sep 3, 2026. [surf](https://deta.surf) has 3.6k stars, 251 forks, and 32 open issues, last pushed Aug 24, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [deepwiki-open's repository](https://github.com/AsyncFuncAI/deepwiki-open) and [surf's repository](https://github.com/deta/surf). | | [deepwiki-open](/tools/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open.md) | [surf](/tools/deta-surf.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | AI-Powered Wiki Generator for Code Repositories | Tools for organizing files and webpages locally to generate notes using personal AI notebooks. | | Stars | 18,015 | 3,572 | | Forks | 2,004 | 251 | | Open issues | 269 | 32 | | Language | Python | TypeScript | | Adopt for | DeepWiki-open is an AI-powered tool designed to automate documentation creation for repositories on GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket. | surf is an open-source tool for managing personal notes by integrating local or remote AI models to process files and webpages. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Releases under MIT License, allowing free use for both personal and commercial purposes as long as copyright and license notices are retained. | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | Developer Tools, LLM Frameworks | Data & Retrieval, Developer Tools, LLM Frameworks | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [deepwiki-open](/tools/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open.md) | [surf](/tools/deta-surf.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Days since push | 16d | 26d | | Open issues (now) | 269 | 32 | | Stars delta | +377 (30d) | +50 (30d) | | Open issues delta | +3 (30d) | 0 (30d) | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/deta-surf/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: deepwiki-open - **Pricing:** freemium - The basic version is available at no cost, with potential premium services not detailed in the repository. - **Requirements:** Python environment must be set up; specific versions or dependencies are not provided in the README. - **Adopt for:** DeepWiki-open is an AI-powered tool designed to automate documentation creation for repositories on GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket. - **License detail:** Releases under MIT License, allowing free use for both personal and commercial purposes as long as copyright and license notices are retained. ## Decision facts: surf - **Adopt for:** surf is an open-source tool for managing personal notes by integrating local or remote AI models to process files and webpages. ## Choose when ### Choose deepwiki-open if… - deepwiki-open is primarily Python; surf is TypeScript. - License: deepwiki-open is MIT, surf is Apache-2.0. - Pricing: The basic version is available at no cost, with potential premium services not detailed in the repository.. - Requirements: Python environment must be set up; specific versions or dependencies are not provided in the README.. - Tags unique to deepwiki-open: ai, codex, gemini, github. - deepwiki-open ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. - When you have a large codebase that requires automated yet comprehensive documentation generation without manual intervention. ### Choose surf if… - surf is primarily TypeScript; deepwiki-open is Python. - License: surf is Apache-2.0, deepwiki-open is MIT. - Tags unique to surf: claude, deepseek, gemma, knowledge-base. - Also covers Data & Retrieval. - Need a robust integration with both local and remote language models for comprehensive note creation ## When NOT to use deepwiki-open - In scenarios where precise control over the wording of generated documentation is essential as DeepWiki-open relies on AI which may not always match human-specific nuance. - If your team or organization avoids using external services for documenting projects due to data privacy concerns, since DeepWiki-open integrates with multiple third-party platforms. ## When NOT to use surf - Prefer using proprietary, closed-source tools that do not allow open model choices - Require extensive cloud-based collaboration features among multiple users ## Common questions ### What is the difference between deepwiki-open and surf? deepwiki-open: AI-Powered Wiki Generator for Code Repositories. surf: Tools for organizing files and webpages locally to generate notes using personal AI notebooks.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose deepwiki-open over surf? Choose deepwiki-open over surf when deepwiki-open is primarily Python; surf is TypeScript; License: deepwiki-open is MIT, surf is Apache-2.0; Pricing: The basic version is available at no cost, with potential premium services not detailed in the repository.; Requirements: Python environment must be set up; specific versions or dependencies are not provided in the README.; Tags unique to deepwiki-open: ai, codex, gemini, github; deepwiki-open ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment; When you have a large codebase that requires automated yet comprehensive documentation generation without manual intervention. ### When should I choose surf over deepwiki-open? Choose surf over deepwiki-open when surf is primarily TypeScript; deepwiki-open is Python; License: surf is Apache-2.0, deepwiki-open is MIT; Tags unique to surf: claude, deepseek, gemma, knowledge-base; Also covers Data & Retrieval; Need a robust integration with both local and remote language models for comprehensive note creation. ### When should I avoid deepwiki-open? In scenarios where precise control over the wording of generated documentation is essential as DeepWiki-open relies on AI which may not always match human-specific nuance. If your team or organization avoids using external services for documenting projects due to data privacy concerns, since DeepWiki-open integrates with multiple third-party platforms. ### When should I avoid surf? Prefer using proprietary, closed-source tools that do not allow open model choices Require extensive cloud-based collaboration features among multiple users ### Is deepwiki-open or surf more popular on GitHub? deepwiki-open has more GitHub stars (18,015 vs 3,572). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are deepwiki-open and surf open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (deepwiki-open: MIT, surf: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to deepwiki-open or surf? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [deepwiki-open alternatives](/tools/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open/alternatives) and [surf alternatives](/tools/deta-surf/alternatives) ([deepwiki-open markdown twin](/tools/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open/alternatives.md), [surf markdown twin](/tools/deta-surf/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open-vs-deta-surf.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, deepwiki-open or surf? deepwiki-open: Active. surf: Active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for deepwiki-open and surf? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [deepwiki-open trust report](/tools/asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open/trust); [surf trust report](/tools/deta-surf/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=asyncfuncai-deepwiki-open) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_