head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Chalk.ist
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars, 15,326 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Chalk.ist has 1,845 stars, 149 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 7,067% (132,233 vs 1,845 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Chalk.ist is written in Vue under MIT. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Chalk.ist 8%. Excalidraw 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
| Excalidraw | Chalk.ist | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-01-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 149 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 132K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Chalk.ist if
- You want the Chalk.ist feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Chalk.ist fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw is an open source virtual whiteboard application built in TypeScript, designed for sketching hand drawn style diagrams, wireframes, and freeform ideas. It lives within the web based productivity and design visualization ecosystem, offering a lightweight alternative to commercial tools like Figma, Miro, and Canva. The project includes both a standalone web app at excalidraw.com and an embeddable npm package for integration into third party applications.
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About Chalk.ist
Chalk.ist is a Vue project in the Productivity & Utilities / Design & Visualization category. GitHub description says create beautiful images of source code. Tagline says transform source code into visuals. Homepage is https://chalk.ist. License is MIT. License line names Kasper Mikiewicz 2022. Repository language is Vue. Repository stats include 1845 stars, 149 forks, 0 contributors, and 22 open issues. Repo age is 0 years. Last push is 2026 01 07T17:18:35Z. The excerpt lists no topics.
read the full Chalk.ist overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Chalk.ist more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars and Chalk.ist has 1,845. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Chalk.ist free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and Chalk.ist under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Chalk.ist?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Chalk.ist in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Excalidraw or Chalk.ist?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,233 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Chalk.ist if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.