head to head · open source
cobalt vs free4chat
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars, 4,031 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. free4chat has 1,225 stars, 167 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. cobalt leads on adoption by 3,632% (45,722 vs 1,225 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; free4chat is written in TypeScript under MIT. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, free4chat 14%. free4chat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (collaboration), 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
| cobalt | free4chat | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Svelte | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-10-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 167 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cobalt if
- You weight community size — 46K 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 free4chat if
- You want the free4chat feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and free4chat fits your workflow better
About cobalt
best way to save what you love cobalt.tools 💬 community discord server 🐦 twitter 🦋 bluesky cobalt is a media downloader that doesn't piss you off. it's friendly, efficient, and doesn't have ads, trackers, paywalls or other nonsense. paste the link, get the file, move on. that simple, just how it should be. cobalt monorepo this monorepo includes source code for api, frontend, and related packages: api tree & readme web tree & readme packages tree it also includes documentation in the docs tree: how to run a cobalt instance how to protect a cobalt instance cobalt api instance environment variables cobalt api…
read the full cobalt overview →
About free4chat
free4chat www.free4.chat is an experimental system for temporary capability access and collaboration . Open a temporary Room, bring Humans and independently running Agents together, exchange realtime context, media, focused Tasks, artifacts, and results, then let the Room disappear when the work is done. No account or permanent workspace is required. ⚠️ Personal technical/product testbed. Use at your own risk. Free4Chat is intentionally still exploring its product shape. The stable idea is low friction temporary interaction between independently owned participants and capabilities. What stays stable Temporary by…
read the full free4chat overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or free4chat more popular?
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars and free4chat has 1,225. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and free4chat free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and free4chat under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and free4chat?
cobalt is written in Svelte and free4chat 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 free4chat?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (45,722 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose free4chat if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.