head to head · open source
chatbox vs QwenPaw
chatbox has 42,253 GitHub stars, 4,307 forks, 1,290 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. QwenPaw has 37,354 stars, 3,258 forks, 990 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chatbox leads on adoption by 13% (42,253 vs 37,354 stars). chatbox is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; QwenPaw is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. chatbox has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, QwenPaw 9%. QwenPaw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chatbot), 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
| chatbox | QwenPaw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 37K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chatbox if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick QwenPaw if
- You want the QwenPaw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and QwenPaw fits your workflow better
About chatbox
English 简体中文 Chatbox (Community Edition) Your Ultimate AI Copilot on the Desktop. Chatbox is a desktop client for ChatGPT, Claude and other LLMs, available on Windows, Mac, Linux This is the repository for the Chatbox Community Edition, open sourced under the GPLv3 license. Chatbox is going open source Again! We regularly sync code from the pro repo to this repo, and vice versa. Download Desktop Windows MacOS Linux Setup.exe Intel Apple Silicon AppImage iOS/Android .APK For more information: chatboxai.app Quick Start For End Users 1. Download the appropriate installer for your platform from the releases page 2…
read the full chatbox overview →
About QwenPaw
QwenPaw [Documentation] [中文] [日本語] [Русский] Works for you, grows with you. Your personal AI assistant — deploy locally or in the cloud, extend with Skills & Plugins, connect across every channel. What you can do with QwenPaw Automation & scheduling : Set up recurring tasks — news digests, report generation, multi channel broadcasting — all on your schedule. Code & development : Read, edit, review, and test code in your projects with the unified file workspace. Document processing : Read, write, and convert PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Information gathering : Search the web, follow subscriptions…
read the full QwenPaw overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chatbox or QwenPaw more popular?
chatbox has 42,253 GitHub stars and QwenPaw has 37,354. chatbox has the larger community by that measure.
Are chatbox and QwenPaw free?
Both are open source. chatbox is licensed under GPL-3.0 and QwenPaw under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chatbox and QwenPaw?
chatbox is written in TypeScript and QwenPaw 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, chatbox or QwenPaw?
Choose chatbox if you want the larger community (42,253 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose QwenPaw if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.