head to head · open source
CodeEdit vs phoenix
CodeEdit has 23,058 GitHub stars, 1,192 forks, 213 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. phoenix has 2,998 stars, 205 forks, 266 open issues and last shipped yesterday. CodeEdit leads on adoption by 669% (23,058 vs 2,998 stars). CodeEdit is written in Swift under MIT; phoenix is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. CodeEdit has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, phoenix 7%. phoenix was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (code, editor, 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
| CodeEdit | phoenix | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Swift | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-18 | 2026-10-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 205 |
| 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 phoenix if
- You want the phoenix feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and phoenix 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 phoenix
Phoenix is a free, open source text editor for web developers that runs in the browser and aims to make editing JavaScript, HTML, and CSS feel as approachable as playing a video game.
read the full phoenix overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CodeEdit or phoenix more popular?
CodeEdit has 23,058 GitHub stars and phoenix has 2,998. CodeEdit has the larger community by that measure.
Are CodeEdit and phoenix free?
Both are open source. CodeEdit is licensed under MIT and phoenix under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CodeEdit and phoenix?
CodeEdit is written in Swift and phoenix in JavaScript. 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 phoenix?
Choose CodeEdit if you want the larger community (23,058 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose phoenix if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.