--- title: "surf vs moby" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/deta-surf-vs-moby-moby" tools: ["deta-surf", "moby-moby"] --- # surf vs moby *GraphCanon updated Jul 15, 2026* ## Verdict Pick surf when surf is primarily TypeScript; moby is Go; pick moby when moby is primarily Go; surf is TypeScript. [surf](https://deta.surf) reports 3.5k GitHub stars, 255 forks, and 32 open issues, last pushed Jul 8, 2026. [moby](https://mobyproject.org/) has 72k stars, 19k forks, and 3.8k open issues, last pushed Jul 10, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [surf's repository](https://github.com/deta/surf) and [moby's repository](https://github.com/moby/moby). | | [surf](/tools/deta-surf.md) | [moby](/tools/moby-moby.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Personal AI Notebooks. Organize files & webpages and generate notes from them. Open source, local & open data, open model choice (incl. local). | The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble container-based systems | | Stars | 3,476 | 71,899 | | Forks | 255 | 19,126 | | Open issues | 32 | 3,821 | | Language | TypeScript | Go | | Adopt for | - | - | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks | Developer Tools, Inference & Serving, LLM Frameworks | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [surf](/tools/deta-surf.md) | [moby](/tools/moby-moby.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Days since push | 6d | 1d | | Open issues (now) | 32 | 3.8k | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/deta-surf/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/moby-moby/trust.md) | ## Choose when ### Choose surf if… - surf is primarily TypeScript; moby is Go. - Tags unique to surf: claude, deepseek, gemma, knowledge-base. - Leaner open-issue backlog (32). ### Choose moby if… - moby is primarily Go; surf is TypeScript. - Tags unique to moby: containers, docker, go, golang. - Also covers Developer Tools. - moby ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. ## When NOT to use surf - Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ## When NOT to use moby - Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. - Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. - LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between surf and moby? surf: Personal AI Notebooks. Organize files & webpages and generate notes from them. Open source, local & open data, open model choice (incl. local).. moby: The Moby Project - a collaborative project for the container ecosystem to assemble container-based systems. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose surf over moby? Choose surf over moby when surf is primarily TypeScript; moby is Go; Tags unique to surf: claude, deepseek, gemma, knowledge-base; Leaner open-issue backlog (32). ### When should I choose moby over surf? Choose moby over surf when moby is primarily Go; surf is TypeScript; Tags unique to moby: containers, docker, go, golang; Also covers Developer Tools; moby ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. ### When should I avoid surf? Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ### When should I avoid moby? Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. Inference & Serving: Self-hosting rarely beats a hosted API on cost until you have steady, high-volume traffic. LLM Frameworks: Avoid a framework for a single prompt-and-retrieve call; the abstraction can cost more than it saves. ### Is surf or moby more popular on GitHub? moby has more GitHub stars (71,899 vs 3,476). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are surf and moby open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (surf: Apache-2.0, moby: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to surf or moby? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [surf alternatives](/tools/deta-surf/alternatives) and [moby alternatives](/tools/moby-moby/alternatives) ([surf markdown twin](/tools/deta-surf/alternatives.md), [moby markdown twin](/tools/moby-moby/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/deta-surf-vs-moby-moby.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, surf or moby? surf: Very active. moby: Very 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 surf and moby? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [surf trust report](/tools/deta-surf/trust); [moby trust report](/tools/moby-moby/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=deta-surf`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=deta-surf) - 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/_