head to head · open source
AppSmith vs Palform
AppSmith has 41,153 GitHub stars, 4,824 forks, 4,467 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Palform has 49 stars, 2 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. AppSmith leads on adoption by 83,886% (41,153 vs 49 stars). AppSmith is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Palform is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. AppSmith has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Palform 4%. AppSmith 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
| AppSmith | Palform | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 49 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 2 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AppSmith if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Palform if
- You want the Palform feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Palform fits your workflow better
About AppSmith
Organizations build custom applications like dashboards, admin panels, customer 360, IT automation, and service management tools to help their teams work more efficiently and effectively. Appsmith is an open source low code platform that streamlines custom application development, deployment, and maintenance. Learn more on our website. Installation There are two ways to start using Appsmith: Signup on Appsmith Cloud. Install Appsmith on your machine. See the installation guides below. For other deployment options, see the Installation Guides documentation. Development To build and run Appsmith in your local dev…
read the full AppSmith overview →
About Palform
Palform is a form builder that's: open source end to end encrypted privacy focussed (minimal third party scripts) full featured free to use online on our European hosted secure servers Our entire codebase is open source, including our marketing pages. This repository contains everything needed to operate the service. Architecture Palform is made up of several Rust and JS components. We use Rust with the Rocket framework and SeaORM on the backend. This helps maintain very high performance; the observed memory and CPU consumption in practice has been practically zero. Although implementing features is arguably…
read the full Palform overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AppSmith or Palform more popular?
AppSmith has 41,153 GitHub stars and Palform has 49. AppSmith has the larger community by that measure.
Are AppSmith and Palform free?
Both are open source. AppSmith is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Palform under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AppSmith and Palform?
AppSmith is written in TypeScript and Palform in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, AppSmith or Palform?
Choose AppSmith if you want the larger community (41,153 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Palform if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.