head to head · open source
rea vs Directus
rea has 419,506 GitHub stars, 104,778 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Directus has 38,782 stars, 4,989 forks, 402 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. rea leads on adoption by 982% (419,506 vs 38,782 stars). rea is written in TypeScript under MIT; Directus is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. rea has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, Directus 13%. rea was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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
| rea | Directus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 420K | ★ 39K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 105K | ⑂ 5.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rea if
- You weight community size — 420K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Directus if
- You want the Directus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Directus fits your workflow better
About rea
English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Türkçe · Русский · Tiếng Việt · ไทย · Deutsch · Español · Français · Українська · Polski · Português (Brasil) · العربية · فارسی REA: Reverse Engineer Anything One MCP for reverse engineering across binaries, applications, and runtime behavior. See a feature you like. Understand how it works, down to the binary level. Website · Guides · Showcases Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · FAQ · Documentation npx rea agents setup Join the Reverse Engineering Community Discord · Q&A · Show and Tell See a feature in an app that you want in your own product?…
About Directus
The Collaborative Backend for Builders & AI Connect any SQL database and get instant REST and GraphQL APIs, a visual management Studio, and a native MCP server for AI agents. 45M+ downloads · 500K+ projects deployed [!NOTE] Free for most organizations. Under $5M annual revenue and 50 employees? Directus is completely free. Apply for an Open Innovation Grant license and get a key in minutes. Learn more about our license. 🐇 Introduction Directus wraps any SQL database with a REST and GraphQL API layer and a visual Studio. Engineers control schema and access. Non technical teammates and AI agents work directly…
read the full Directus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rea or Directus more popular?
rea has 419,506 GitHub stars and Directus has 38,782. rea has the larger community by that measure.
Are rea and Directus free?
Both are open source. rea is licensed under MIT, and Directus has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between rea and Directus?
rea is written in TypeScript and Directus 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, rea or Directus?
Choose rea if you want the larger community (419,506 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Directus if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.