head to head · open source
chitchatter vs SubEthaEdit
chitchatter has 2,344 GitHub stars, 451 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. SubEthaEdit has 1,433 stars, 116 forks, 93 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. chitchatter leads on adoption by 64% (2,344 vs 1,433 stars). chitchatter is written in TypeScript under GPL-2.0; SubEthaEdit is written in Objective-C under MIT. chitchatter has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, SubEthaEdit 8%. chitchatter 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
| chitchatter | SubEthaEdit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.3K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Objective-C |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2025-11-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 451 | ⑂ 116 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chitchatter if
- You weight community size — 2.3K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick SubEthaEdit if
- You want the SubEthaEdit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Objective-C
- You evaluated both and SubEthaEdit fits your workflow better
About chitchatter
Chitchatter Logo provided by @ramyashreeshetty Chitchatter is a free (as in both price and freedom) communication tool. Designed to be the simplest way to connect with others privately and securely, it is: Fully open source (licensed under GPL v2) Peer to peer Whenever possible, otherwise a TURN server is used to ensure reliable peer connection End to end encrypted (via WebRTC) Ephemeral Message content is never persisted to disk on either the client or server Decentralized No API server required . Chitchatter works completely without an API server all that's required for basic functionality is availability of…
read the full chitchatter overview →
About SubEthaEdit
SubEthaEdit General purpose plain text editor for macOS. Widely known for its live collaboration feature. github.com/subethaedit/SubEthaEdit is the main development repository. subethaedit.net is the base for the official releases in and out of the app store. Getting Started These instructions will get you a copy of the project up and running on your local machine for development and testing purposes. Prerequisites Development is done on most recent macOS and you are expected to have a apple developer account. Clone the repo, and switch to the develop branch Initialise the submodules by Edit the…
read the full SubEthaEdit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chitchatter or SubEthaEdit more popular?
chitchatter has 2,344 GitHub stars and SubEthaEdit has 1,433. chitchatter has the larger community by that measure.
Are chitchatter and SubEthaEdit free?
Both are open source. chitchatter is licensed under GPL-2.0 and SubEthaEdit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chitchatter and SubEthaEdit?
chitchatter is written in TypeScript and SubEthaEdit in Objective-C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, chitchatter or SubEthaEdit?
Choose chitchatter if you want the larger community (2,344 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose SubEthaEdit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.