head to head · open source
crit vs roam-code
crit has 1,268 GitHub stars, 106 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. roam-code has 516 stars, 50 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. crit leads on adoption by 146% (1,268 vs 516 stars). crit is written in Go under MIT; roam-code is written in Python under Apache-2.0. crit has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, roam-code 10%. crit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai-agents, cli, code-review, developer-tools), 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
| crit | roam-code | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.3K | ★ 516 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 106 | ⑂ 50 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick crit if
- You weight community size — 1.3K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick roam-code if
- You want the roam-code feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and roam-code fits your workflow better
About crit
Crit Review and comment on plans, code diffs, frontend elements and send feedback directly to your agent. Adaptive UI for each type of output For agents, plans and code are all the same it's just text, but for us, humans, reviewing generated plans and reviewing web application are two very different activities. Crit adds a proper interface for each type of output and lets you point at the exact thing that is wrong and leave a comment for the agent to fix: crit plan.md renders a markdown file with proper formatting and review UI crit auto detects git changes and shows syntax highlighted diffs for local review…
About roam-code
roam code Local code analysis and ready to run checks for coding agents. Roam gives your agent a reusable codebase index, pattern findings, candidate algorithmic alternatives, and checks it can call as it works. It can investigate code and evaluate changes without building each analysis from scratch. Runs on your machine · free and open source · no account or API key for local analysis · no automatic source code or telemetry upload 287 commands · 246 MCP tools (17 in the default core preset) · 28 languages Connect your agent · Try a task · Documentation · Explore the code map Why Roam is different Your agent can…
read the full roam-code overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is crit or roam-code more popular?
crit has 1,268 GitHub stars and roam-code has 516. crit has the larger community by that measure.
Are crit and roam-code free?
Both are open source. crit is licensed under MIT and roam-code under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between crit and roam-code?
crit is written in Go and roam-code in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, crit or roam-code?
Choose crit if you want the larger community (1,268 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose roam-code if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.