head to head · open source
CodeEdit vs NetPad
CodeEdit has 23,066 GitHub stars, 1,192 forks, 213 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. NetPad has 2,278 stars, 132 forks, 63 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. CodeEdit leads on adoption by 913% (23,066 vs 2,278 stars). CodeEdit is written in Swift under MIT; NetPad is written in C# under MIT. CodeEdit has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, NetPad 6%. CodeEdit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (editor, ide, macos), 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
| CodeEdit | NetPad | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Swift | C# |
| Last push | 2026-08-18 | 2026-08-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 132 |
| 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 NetPad if
- You want the NetPad feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and NetPad fits your workflow better
About CodeEdit
CodeEdit is a code editor for macOS. It is written in Swift, released under the MIT license, and described as a community project. The GitHub description says the app is open source and free forever. The project aims to provide a native editing experience for developers who work on software outside Apple platform projects.
read the full CodeEdit overview →
About NetPad
NetPad is an open source, cross platform C editor and playground for developers who want to run C snippets instantly without creating and managing projects.
read the full NetPad overview →
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 CodeEdit or NetPad more popular?
CodeEdit has 23,066 GitHub stars and NetPad has 2,278. CodeEdit has the larger community by that measure.
Are CodeEdit and NetPad free?
Both are open source. CodeEdit is licensed under MIT and NetPad under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CodeEdit and NetPad?
CodeEdit is written in Swift and NetPad in C#. 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 NetPad?
Choose CodeEdit if you want the larger community (23,066 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose NetPad if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.