head to head · open source
CopilotKit vs assistant-ui
CopilotKit has 38,475 GitHub stars, 4,798 forks, 295 open issues and last shipped yesterday. assistant-ui has 12,912 stars, 1,304 forks, 207 open issues and last shipped yesterday. CopilotKit leads on adoption by 198% (38,475 vs 12,912 stars). CopilotKit is written in TypeScript under MIT; assistant-ui is written in TypeScript under MIT. CopilotKit has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, assistant-ui 10%. CopilotKit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (copilot), 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
| CopilotKit | assistant-ui | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 13K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CopilotKit if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick assistant-ui if
- You want the assistant-ui feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and assistant-ui fits your workflow better
About CopilotKit
CopilotKit Docs · Examples · CopilotKit Intelligence · Discord Build agent native applications — on any framework, on any surface. Generative UI, shared state, and human in the loop workflows for React, Angular, Vue, React Native — and in Slack and Microsoft Teams. What is CopilotKit? CopilotKit is a best in class SDK for building full stack agentic applications, Generative UI, and chat applications. What started as a React library is now the horizontal layer between your agents and your users : the same agent can power your web app, your mobile app, and your team's Slack or Microsoft Teams workspace. We are the…
read the full CopilotKit overview →
About assistant-ui
Product · Documentation · Examples · Discord · Contact Sales The UX of ChatGPT in your React app 💬🚀 assistant ui is an open source TypeScript/React library to build production grade AI chat experiences fast. Installation The fastest path is the CLI, which scaffolds a Next.js app or adds the styled components to an existing project: Or install the packages directly: Usage useChatRuntime connects to the Vercel AI SDK out of the box. Swap it for useLangGraphRuntime , useDataStreamRuntime , or any custom runtime to integrate with your own backend. What you get Composable primitives : build any chat UX from Thread…
read the full assistant-ui overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CopilotKit or assistant-ui more popular?
CopilotKit has 38,475 GitHub stars and assistant-ui has 12,912. CopilotKit has the larger community by that measure.
Are CopilotKit and assistant-ui free?
Both are open source. CopilotKit is licensed under MIT and assistant-ui under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CopilotKit and assistant-ui?
CopilotKit is written in TypeScript and assistant-ui in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, CopilotKit or assistant-ui?
Choose CopilotKit if you want the larger community (38,475 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose assistant-ui if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.