head to head · open source
ComfyUI vs Sidekick
ComfyUI has 144,907 GitHub stars, 17,244 forks, 4,894 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Sidekick has 3,322 stars, 146 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. ComfyUI leads on adoption by 4,262% (144,907 vs 3,322 stars). ComfyUI is written in Python under GPL-3.0; Sidekick is written in Swift under MIT. ComfyUI has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Sidekick 4%. ComfyUI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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
| ComfyUI | Sidekick | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 145K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-09-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 17K | ⑂ 146 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ComfyUI if
- You weight community size — 145K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Sidekick if
- You want the Sidekick feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and Sidekick fits your workflow better
About ComfyUI
ComfyUI The most powerful and modular AI engine for content creation. [![Website][website shield]][website url] [![Dynamic JSON Badge][discord shield]][discord url] [![Twitter][twitter shield]][twitter url] [![Matrix][matrix shield]][matrix url] [![][github release shield]][github release link] [![][github release date shield]][github release link] [![][github downloads shield]][github downloads link] [![][github downloads latest shield]][github downloads link] [matrix shield]: [matrix url]: [website shield]: [website url]: [discord shield]: [discord url]: [twitter shield]: [twitter url]: [github release…
read the full ComfyUI overview →
About Sidekick
Sidekick Chat with a local LLM that can respond with information from your files, folders and websites on your Mac without installing any other software. All conversations happen offline, and your data stays secure. Sidekick is a local first application –– with a built in inference engine for local models, while accommodating OpenAI compatible APIs for additional model options. Sidekick supports modern GGUF local models such as Qwen3.5 out of the box through its built in llama.cpp backend. Example Use Let’s say you're collecting evidence for a History paper about interactions between Aztecs and Spanish troops…
read the full Sidekick overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ComfyUI or Sidekick more popular?
ComfyUI has 144,907 GitHub stars and Sidekick has 3,322. ComfyUI has the larger community by that measure.
Are ComfyUI and Sidekick free?
Both are open source. ComfyUI is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sidekick under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ComfyUI and Sidekick?
ComfyUI is written in Python and Sidekick 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, ComfyUI or Sidekick?
Choose ComfyUI if you want the larger community (144,907 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Sidekick if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.