head to head · open source
NvChad vs CodeEdit
NvChad has 28,490 GitHub stars, 2,218 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. CodeEdit has 23,034 stars, 1,191 forks, 213 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. NvChad leads on adoption by 24% (28,490 vs 23,034 stars). NvChad is written in Lua under GPL-3.0; CodeEdit is written in Swift under MIT. NvChad has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, CodeEdit 5%. CodeEdit 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
| NvChad | CodeEdit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 28K | ★ 23K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Lua | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NvChad if
- You weight community size — 28K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick CodeEdit if
- You want the CodeEdit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and CodeEdit fits your workflow better
About NvChad
NvChad is a Neovim configuration framework written in Lua that provides a base configuration with polished defaults and a beautiful UI, aimed at developers who want a fast, preconfigured editor without assembling a configuration from scratch.
read the full NvChad overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is NvChad or CodeEdit more popular?
NvChad has 28,490 GitHub stars and CodeEdit has 23,034. NvChad has the larger community by that measure.
Are NvChad and CodeEdit free?
Both are open source. NvChad is licensed under GPL-3.0 and CodeEdit under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between NvChad and CodeEdit?
NvChad is written in Lua and CodeEdit in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, NvChad or CodeEdit?
Choose NvChad if you want the larger community (28,490 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose CodeEdit if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.