head to head · open source
code-server vs metals
code-server has 79,564 GitHub stars, 6,881 forks, 152 open issues and last shipped yesterday. metals has 2,333 stars, 445 forks, 282 open issues and last shipped yesterday. code-server leads on adoption by 3,310% (79,564 vs 2,333 stars). code-server is written in TypeScript under MIT; metals is written in Scala under Apache-2.0. code-server has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, metals 19%. metals 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 | metals | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 80K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Scala |
| Last push | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 445 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick code-server if
- You weight community size — 80K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick metals if
- You want the metals feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Scala
- You evaluated both and metals 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 metals
Metals is a Scala language server that brings rich IDE features to editors supporting the Language Server Protocol, aimed at Scala developers who want full tooling outside of IntelliJ IDEA.
read the full metals overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is code-server or metals more popular?
code-server has 79,564 GitHub stars and metals has 2,333. code-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are code-server and metals free?
Both are open source. code-server is licensed under MIT and metals under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between code-server and metals?
code-server is written in TypeScript and metals in Scala. 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 metals?
Choose code-server if you want the larger community (79,564 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose metals if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.