head to head · open source
code-server vs xum
code-server has 79,613 GitHub stars, 6,889 forks, 152 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xum has 2,054 stars, 142 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped today. code-server leads on adoption by 3,776% (79,613 vs 2,054 stars). code-server is written in TypeScript under MIT; xum is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. code-server has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, xum 7%. xum 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| code-server | xum | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 80K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 142 |
| 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 xum if
- You want the xum feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and xum 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 xum
Xum is a desktop application and coding agent multiplexer for developers who want to run many AI coding agents in parallel across isolated workspaces, with runtimes that span a local project directory, git worktrees on the same machine, and remote execution over SSH.
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More IDEs & Code Editors projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the IDEs & Code Editors field.
Frequently asked questions
Is code-server or xum more popular?
code-server has 79,613 GitHub stars and xum has 2,054. code-server has the larger community by that measure.
Are code-server and xum free?
Both are open source. code-server is licensed under MIT and xum under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between code-server and xum?
code-server is written in TypeScript and xum 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 xum?
Choose code-server if you want the larger community (79,613 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose xum if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.