head to head · open source
bento vs KillerPDF
bento has 5,129 GitHub stars, 356 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. KillerPDF has 3,879 stars, 307 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. bento leads on adoption by 32% (5,129 vs 3,879 stars). bento is written in TypeScript under MIT; KillerPDF is written in C# under GPL-3.0. bento has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, KillerPDF 8%. bento was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (open-source), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| bento | KillerPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.1K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 356 | ⑂ 307 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bento if
- You weight community size — 5.1K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick KillerPDF if
- You want the KillerPDF feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and KillerPDF fits your workflow better
About bento
Bento is an MIT licensed, local first PowerPoint alternative that ships as a single self contained HTML file, in which the deck carries its own viewer, presenter and editor so that anyone who opens it in a modern browser can edit or present it without installing anything.
read the full bento overview →
About KillerPDF
KillerPDF is a free, open source PDF editor for Windows, built in C under the GPL 3.0 licence, that gives individuals and teams a complete view annotate OCR edit sign workflow without an Adobe subscription and without sending document processing off the machine.
read the full KillerPDF overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bento or KillerPDF more popular?
bento has 5,129 GitHub stars and KillerPDF has 3,879. bento has the larger community by that measure.
Are bento and KillerPDF free?
Both are open source. bento is licensed under MIT and KillerPDF under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bento and KillerPDF?
bento is written in TypeScript and KillerPDF in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, bento or KillerPDF?
Choose bento if you want the larger community (5,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose KillerPDF if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.