head to head · open source
CodeEdit vs lite-xl
CodeEdit has 23,105 GitHub stars, 1,196 forks, 213 open issues and last shipped 19 days ago. lite-xl has 6,506 stars, 328 forks, 330 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. CodeEdit leads on adoption by 255% (23,105 vs 6,506 stars). CodeEdit is written in Swift under MIT; lite-xl is written in Lua under MIT. CodeEdit has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, lite-xl 5%. lite-xl was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (code, code-editor, editor), 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
| CodeEdit | lite-xl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 6.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Swift | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-10-17 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 328 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CodeEdit if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lite-xl if
- You want the lite-xl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and lite-xl fits your workflow better
About CodeEdit
CodeEdit for macOS CodeEdit is a code editor built by the community, for the community, written entirely and unapologetically for macOS. Features include syntax highlighting, code completion, project find and replace, snippets, terminal, task running, debugging, git integration, code review, extensions, and more. [!IMPORTANT] CodeEdit is currently in development and not yet recommended for production use, however you can take part in shaping it's future by test driving pre release versions and submitting an issue to let us know what you think. Table of Contents Motivation Mission Community Activity Contributing…
read the full CodeEdit overview →
About lite-xl
Lite XL [![CI]]( [![Discord Badge Image]]( ![screenshot dark] A lightweight text editor written in Lua, adapted from [lite]. [Get Lite XL] — Download for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. [Get plugins] — Add additional functionality, adapted for Lite XL. [Get color themes] — Add additional colors themes. Please refer to our [website] for the user and developer documentation, including [build] instructions details. A quick build guide is described below. Lite XL has support for high DPI display on Windows and Linux and, since 1.16.7 release, it supports retina displays on macOS. Please note that Lite XL is compatible…
read the full lite-xl overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CodeEdit or lite-xl more popular?
CodeEdit has 23,105 GitHub stars and lite-xl has 6,506. CodeEdit has the larger community by that measure.
Are CodeEdit and lite-xl free?
Both are open source. CodeEdit is licensed under MIT and lite-xl under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CodeEdit and lite-xl?
CodeEdit is written in Swift and lite-xl in Lua. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, CodeEdit or lite-xl?
Choose CodeEdit if you want the larger community (23,105 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lite-xl if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.