head to head · open source
1Panel vs Refine
1Panel has 37,343 GitHub stars, 3,400 forks, 317 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Refine has 35,981 stars, 3,266 forks, 43 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. 1Panel leads on adoption by 4% (37,343 vs 35,981 stars). 1Panel is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Refine is written in TypeScript under MIT. 1Panel has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Refine 9%. 1Panel 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
| 1Panel | Refine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 36K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick 1Panel if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Refine if
- You want the Refine feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Refine fits your workflow better
About 1Panel
Loved by a global community of 2.5M+ self hosters. What is 1Panel? 1Panel is a modern, open source Linux server management panel and a lightweight AI management platform. Through an intuitive web interface, it provides users with comprehensive, one stop server management capabilities: AI Management : Offers a unified management platform from bare metal to agents (Metal to Agent). It integrates an AI gateway, and Skills Hub, while supporting centralized management of agents and models. Efficient Visual Operations : Easily manage Linux servers through a web based GUI, streamlining tasks such as host monitoring…
read the full 1Panel overview →
About Refine
Home Page Documentation Examples Discord Blog Refine The sweet spot between the low/no code and “starting from scratch” for CRUD heavy applications. Refine Core is an open source, React meta framework for enterprise. It provides a headless solution for everything from admin panels to dashboards and internal tools. Refine CORE also powers Refine's purpose built AI agent. What is Refine CORE? Refine CORE is a React meta framework for CRUD heavy web applications. It addresses a wide range of enterprise use cases including internal tools, admin panels, dashboards and B2B apps. Refine CORE's hooks and components…
read the full Refine overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is 1Panel or Refine more popular?
1Panel has 37,343 GitHub stars and Refine has 35,981. 1Panel has the larger community by that measure.
Are 1Panel and Refine free?
Both are open source. 1Panel is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Refine under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between 1Panel and Refine?
1Panel is written in Go and Refine 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, 1Panel or Refine?
Choose 1Panel if you want the larger community (37,343 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Refine if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.