head to head · open source
cobalt vs octo-server
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars, 4,031 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. octo-server has 1,104 stars, 174 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cobalt leads on adoption by 4,041% (45,722 vs 1,104 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; octo-server is written in Go under Apache-2.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, octo-server 16%. octo-server 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 | octo-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | Go |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 174 |
| 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 octo-server if
- You want the octo-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and octo-server 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 octo-server
OCTO — the open workplace built for humans × AI agents. Let Lobsters (OpenClaw powered digital doubles) do the thinking and doing . You focus on taste . 🏠 OCTO Home · 🚀 Quickstart · 📦 Ecosystem · 🤝 Contributing 🌐 Read in : English · 简体中文 OCTO Server The Go backend at the centre of OCTO — REST + WebSocket APIs, Lobster agent orchestration, and the control plane for WuKongIM. octo server is the heart of the OCTO platform. It exposes REST + WebSocket APIs consumed by octo web and octo admin , orchestrates business logic and Lobster (AI agent) scheduling, and drives the WuKongIM IM core for real time messaging…
read the full octo-server overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or octo-server more popular?
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars and octo-server has 1,104. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and octo-server free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and octo-server under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and octo-server?
cobalt is written in Svelte and octo-server in Go. 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 octo-server?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (45,722 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose octo-server if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.