head to head · open source
serenity vs emacs-application-framework
serenity has 33,943 GitHub stars, 3,493 forks, 739 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. emacs-application-framework has 3,497 stars, 247 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. serenity leads on adoption by 871% (33,943 vs 3,497 stars). serenity is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; emacs-application-framework is written in Python under GPL-3.0. serenity has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, emacs-application-framework 7%. serenity was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| serenity | emacs-application-framework | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 247 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick serenity if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick emacs-application-framework if
- You want the emacs-application-framework feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and emacs-application-framework fits your workflow better
About serenity
SerenityOS Graphical Unix like operating system for 64 bit x86, Arm, and RISC V computers. FAQ Documentation Build Instructions About SerenityOS is a love letter to '90s user interfaces with a custom Unix like core. It flatters with sincerity by stealing beautiful ideas from various other systems. Roughly speaking, the goal is a marriage between the aesthetic of late 1990s productivity software and the power user accessibility of late 2000s \ nix. This is a system by us, for us, based on the things we like. You can watch videos of the system being developed on YouTube: Andreas Kling's channel Linus Groh's…
read the full serenity overview →
About emacs-application-framework
English 简体中文 A free/libre and open source extensible framework that revolutionizes the graphical capabilities of Emacs. The key to ultimately Live in Emacs Vision Emacs, the extensible text editor , is more than 45 years old. It is older than virtually all operating systems people use today, almost as old as the first UNIX system. During the decades of development, the world's brightest hackers have contributed their intelligence and creativity. Together they've constructed the most comprehensive and richest ecosystem that you can find in any software to date. If you are a hacker who works with numerous…
read the full emacs-application-framework overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is serenity or emacs-application-framework more popular?
serenity has 33,943 GitHub stars and emacs-application-framework has 3,497. serenity has the larger community by that measure.
Are serenity and emacs-application-framework free?
Both are open source. serenity is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and emacs-application-framework under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between serenity and emacs-application-framework?
serenity is written in C++ and emacs-application-framework 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, serenity or emacs-application-framework?
Choose serenity if you want the larger community (33,943 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose emacs-application-framework if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.