head to head · open source
daisyui vs pencil
daisyui has 42,429 GitHub stars, 1,690 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pencil has 9,866 stars, 792 forks, 533 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. daisyui leads on adoption by 330% (42,429 vs 9,866 stars). daisyui is written in JavaScript under MIT; pencil is written in JavaScript under GPL-2.0. daisyui has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, pencil 8%. daisyui was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| daisyui | pencil | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-06-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 792 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick daisyui if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pencil if
- You want the pencil feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pencil fits your workflow better
About daisyui
daisyUI is a free, MIT licensed component library for Tailwind CSS, written in JavaScript and aimed at front end developers, Svelte projects, and design system teams that want prebuilt interface components rather than hand authored component CSS.
read the full daisyui overview →
About pencil
Pencil is a free and open source diagramming and GUI prototyping tool, licensed under GPL 2.0, that lets designers and developers sketch wireframes, mockups, and diagrams on the desktop without a commercial licence.
read the full pencil overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is daisyui or pencil more popular?
daisyui has 42,429 GitHub stars and pencil has 9,866. daisyui has the larger community by that measure.
Are daisyui and pencil free?
Both are open source. daisyui is licensed under MIT and pencil under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between daisyui and pencil?
daisyui is written in JavaScript and pencil 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, daisyui or pencil?
Choose daisyui if you want the larger community (42,429 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pencil if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.