head to head · open source
Orca vs Aider
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars, 7,169 forks, 5,801 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Aider has 49,910 stars, 5,128 forks, 1,860 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Orca leads on adoption by 127% (113,485 vs 49,910 stars). Orca is written in TypeScript under MIT; Aider is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Orca has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Aider 10%. Orca 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
| Orca | Aider | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 113K | ★ 50K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-05-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.2K | ⑂ 5.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Orca if
- You weight community size — 113K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Aider if
- You want the Aider feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Aider fits your workflow better
About Orca
Orca 中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Español · Français · Português The AI Orchestrator for 100x builders. Run Codex, ClaudeCode, OpenCode or Pi side by side — each in its own worktree, tracked in one place. Download Orca Features Mobile Companion Monitor and steer your agents from your phone — get notified when an agent finishes and send follow ups from anywhere. iOS App Store · TestFlight · Android APK 0.0.48 · Docs → Parallel Worktrees Fan one prompt across five agents, each in its own isolated git worktree — compare the results and merge the winner. Docs → Terminal Splits Ghostty class terminals with WebGL rendering…
About Aider
AI Pair Programming in Your Terminal Aider lets you pair program with LLMs to start a new project or build on your existing codebase. Features Cloud and local LLMs Aider works best with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, DeepSeek R1 & Chat V3, OpenAI o1, o3 mini & GPT 4o, but can connect to almost any LLM, including local models. Maps your codebase Aider makes a map of your entire codebase, which helps it work well in larger projects. 100+ code languages Aider works with most popular programming languages: python, javascript, rust, ruby, go, cpp, php, html, css, and dozens more. Git integration Aider automatically commits…
read the full Aider overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Orca or Aider more popular?
Orca has 113,485 GitHub stars and Aider has 49,910. Orca has the larger community by that measure.
Are Orca and Aider free?
Both are open source. Orca is licensed under MIT and Aider under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Orca and Aider?
Orca is written in TypeScript and Aider 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, Orca or Aider?
Choose Orca if you want the larger community (113,485 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Aider if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.