head to head · open source
Cherry Studio vs mercury-agent
Cherry Studio has 53,242 GitHub stars, 5,172 forks, 1,514 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mercury-agent has 3,810 stars, 392 forks, 60 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Cherry Studio leads on adoption by 1,297% (53,242 vs 3,810 stars). Cherry Studio is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; mercury-agent is written in TypeScript under MIT. Cherry Studio has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, mercury-agent 10%. mercury-agent was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| Cherry Studio | mercury-agent | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 53K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.2K | ⑂ 392 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Cherry Studio if
- You weight community size — 53K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mercury-agent if
- You want the mercury-agent feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and mercury-agent fits your workflow better
About Cherry Studio
English Official Site Documents Development Feedback [![][deepwiki shield]][deepwiki link] [![][twitter shield]][twitter link] [![][discord shield]][discord link] [![][telegram shield]][telegram link] [![][github release shield]][github release link] [![][github nightly shield]][github nightly link] [![][github contributors shield]][github contributors link] [![][license shield]][license link] [![][commercial shield]][commercial link] [![][sponsor shield]][sponsor link] 🍒 Cherry Studio Cherry Studio is a desktop client that supports multiple LLM providers, available on Windows, Mac and Linux. 👏 Join Telegram…
read the full Cherry Studio overview →
About mercury-agent
Soul driven AI agent with permission hardened tools, token budgets, and multi channel access. Remembers what matters. Asks before it acts. Runs 24/7 from CLI, Telegram, or Web. 31 built in tools, Kanban boards, extensible skills, SQLite backed Second Brain memory. 🔖 Current Stable: v1.2.3 English 简体中文 Quick Start One liner install (no Node.js required) — downloads the latest standalone binary for your OS: Or via npm if you already have Node.js 20+: Or install the npm package globally: First run triggers the setup wizard (name, provider, optional Telegram). After setup, Mercury opens the Ink TUI startup screen…
read the full mercury-agent overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Cherry Studio or mercury-agent more popular?
Cherry Studio has 53,242 GitHub stars and mercury-agent has 3,810. Cherry Studio has the larger community by that measure.
Are Cherry Studio and mercury-agent free?
Both are open source. Cherry Studio is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and mercury-agent under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Cherry Studio and mercury-agent?
Cherry Studio is written in TypeScript and mercury-agent 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, Cherry Studio or mercury-agent?
Choose Cherry Studio if you want the larger community (53,242 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose mercury-agent if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.