head to head · open source
code-server vs spyder
code-server has 79,384 GitHub stars, 6,864 forks, 152 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. spyder has 9,335 stars, 1,803 forks, 1,353 open issues and last shipped yesterday. code-server leads on adoption by 750% (79,384 vs 9,335 stars). code-server is written in TypeScript under MIT; spyder is written in Python under MIT. code-server has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, spyder 19%. spyder 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 | spyder | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 spyder if
- You want the spyder feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and spyder 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 spyder
Spyder is a free, MIT licensed development environment for scientific Python, a desktop IDE built in Python on the Qt toolkit, intended for scientists, engineers, analysts and students who write and run Python code.
read the full spyder overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is code-server or spyder more popular?
code-server has 79,384 GitHub stars and spyder has 9,335. code-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are code-server and spyder free?
Both are open source. code-server is licensed under MIT and spyder under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between code-server and spyder?
code-server is written in TypeScript and spyder in Python. 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 spyder?
Choose code-server if you want the larger community (79,384 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose spyder if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.