head to head · open source
bento vs PDF4QT
bento has 5,129 GitHub stars, 356 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PDF4QT has 1,477 stars, 145 forks, 32 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bento leads on adoption by 247% (5,129 vs 1,477 stars). bento is written in TypeScript under MIT; PDF4QT is written in C++ under MIT. bento has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, PDF4QT 10%. bento 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
| bento | PDF4QT | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.1K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 356 | ⑂ 145 |
| 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 PDF4QT if
- You want the PDF4QT feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and PDF4QT 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 PDF4QT
PDF4QT is an MIT licensed, cross platform PDF toolkit for Windows and Linux that combines dedicated desktop applications — a viewer, editor, page manipulator, document diff tool and command line utility — with a C++/Qt PDF rendering engine built against the PDF Reference 2.0, and it is aimed at end users, developers and integrators who need PDF handling they can inspect, modify and redistribute without licence friction.
read the full PDF4QT overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bento or PDF4QT more popular?
bento has 5,129 GitHub stars and PDF4QT has 1,477. bento has the larger community by that measure.
Are bento and PDF4QT free?
Both are open source. bento is licensed under MIT and PDF4QT under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bento and PDF4QT?
bento is written in TypeScript and PDF4QT 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 PDF4QT?
Choose bento if you want the larger community (5,129 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose PDF4QT if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.