head to head · open source
code-server vs dillinger
code-server has 79,397 GitHub stars, 6,867 forks, 152 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dillinger has 8,286 stars, 1,156 forks, 157 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. code-server leads on adoption by 858% (79,397 vs 8,286 stars). code-server is written in TypeScript under MIT; dillinger is written in TypeScript under MIT. code-server has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, dillinger 14%. code-server was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ide), 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
| code-server | dillinger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 8.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-06-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick code-server if
- You weight community size — 79K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dillinger if
- You want the dillinger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and dillinger fits your workflow better
About code-server
code server is an MIT licensed TypeScript project from Coder that runs VS Code on a remote machine and serves the full editor in a browser, aimed at developers who want one consistent development environment reachable from any device.
read the full code-server overview →
About dillinger
Dillinger is a free, MIT licensed, cloud native Markdown editor built on Next.js and the Monaco Editor, intended for developers, bloggers and writers who want focused writing in the browser with the option to sync finished documents to cloud storage they already use.
read the full dillinger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is code-server or dillinger more popular?
code-server has 79,397 GitHub stars and dillinger has 8,286. code-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are code-server and dillinger free?
Both are open source. code-server is licensed under MIT and dillinger under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between code-server and dillinger?
code-server is written in TypeScript and dillinger 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, code-server or dillinger?
Choose code-server if you want the larger community (79,397 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dillinger if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.