head to head · open source
cobalt vs univer
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars, 4,031 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. univer has 22,854 stars, 1,920 forks, 151 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cobalt leads on adoption by 100% (45,722 vs 22,854 stars). cobalt is written in Svelte under AGPL-3.0; univer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. cobalt has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, univer 8%. univer 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 | univer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 23K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Svelte | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-04-06 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| 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 univer if
- You want the univer 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 univer 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 univer
A full stack, isomorphic office SDK for building spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. Build embeddable productivity experiences with a plugin architecture, Canvas based rendering, a formula engine, and one Facade API that works in the browser and on Node.js. English 简体中文 繁體中文 日本語 한국어 Español 📖 Documentation ✨ Showcase 📘 API Reference 📝 Blog ✨ What is Univer? Univer is an open source SDK for creating office applications inside your own product. It gives you the building blocks for spreadsheet, document, and presentation experiences without forcing you into a hosted app or a fixed UI. Use Univer when you…
read the full univer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cobalt or univer more popular?
cobalt has 45,722 GitHub stars and univer has 22,854. cobalt has the larger community by that measure.
Are cobalt and univer free?
Both are open source. cobalt is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and univer under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cobalt and univer?
cobalt is written in Svelte and univer 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 univer?
Choose cobalt if you want the larger community (45,722 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose univer if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.