head to head · open source
diagram-design vs php-spx
diagram-design has 64,318 GitHub stars, 4,247 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. php-spx has 2,645 stars, 104 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. diagram-design leads on adoption by 2,332% (64,318 vs 2,645 stars). diagram-design is written in HTML under MIT; php-spx is written in C under GPL-3.0. diagram-design has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, php-spx 4%. diagram-design was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (data-visualization), 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
| diagram-design | php-spx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 64K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | HTML | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.2K | ⑂ 104 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick diagram-design if
- You weight community size — 64K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick php-spx if
- You want the php-spx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and php-spx fits your workflow better
About diagram-design
Diagram Design Editorial diagrams your designer won't hate. New in 2.0 — the Loop: flywheels with a shared memory hub. The dashed lines are the write backs. New in 2.3: semantic system patterns and optional accessible motion, while static output stays the default. New in 2.5.10: ten more layout grammars — Sankey, fishbone, Wardley map, kanban, user journey, deployment, dependency graph, UML class, story map, and database schema. 39 editorial diagram types for Claude Code, Codex, Factory Droid, Pi, and Agent Skills compatible hosts. Self contained HTML + SVG. No shadows. No Mermaid slop. Semantic patterns…
read the full diagram-design overview →
About php-spx
SPX A simple profiler for PHP [![Build Status][:badge ci:]][:link ci:] ![Supported PHP versions: 5.4 .. 8.x][:badge php versions:] ![Supported platforms: GNU/Linux, macOS & FreeBSD][:badge supported platforms:] ![Supported architectures: x86 64 or ARM64][:badge supported arch:] [![License][:badge license:]][:link license:] Click here for a live demo of the analysis screen SPX, which stands for Simple Profiling eXtension , is just another profiling extension for PHP. It differentiates itself from other similar extensions as being: totally free and confined to your infrastructure (i.e. no data leaks to a SaaS)…
read the full php-spx overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is diagram-design or php-spx more popular?
diagram-design has 64,318 GitHub stars and php-spx has 2,645. diagram-design has the larger community by that measure.
Are diagram-design and php-spx free?
Both are open source. diagram-design is licensed under MIT and php-spx under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between diagram-design and php-spx?
diagram-design is written in HTML and php-spx in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, diagram-design or php-spx?
Choose diagram-design if you want the larger community (64,318 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose php-spx if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.