head to head · open source
cobalt vs Colanode
cobalt has 43,316 GitHub stars, 3,798 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. Colanode has 5,141 stars, 319 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. cobalt leads on adoption by 743% (43,316 vs 5,141 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; Colanode is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Colanode 6%. cobalt 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
| cobalt | Colanode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 43K | ★ 5.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-04-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.8K | ⑂ 319 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cobalt if
- You weight community size — 43K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Svelte
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Colanode if
- You want the Colanode 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 Colanode fits your workflow better
About cobalt
cobalt is a media downloader built around a single promise: paste a link, get the file, move on. It is a monorepo containing the source for an API, a web frontend, and related packages, written primarily in Svelte and TypeScript. The project lives in the modern web and JavaScript ecosystem, and its public surface is hosted at cobalt.tools, while the full codebase is published under the AGPL 3.0 license.
read the full cobalt overview →
About Colanode
Colanode is an open source, local first collaboration workspace that combines real time chat, rich text pages, and customizable databases into one platform that individuals and teams can self host to keep full control of their data.
read the full Colanode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or Colanode more popular?
cobalt has 43,316 GitHub stars and Colanode has 5,141. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and Colanode free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Colanode under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and Colanode?
cobalt is written in Svelte and Colanode 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, cobalt or Colanode?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (43,316 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Colanode if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.