head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Kap
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars, 15,326 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Kap has 19,355 stars, 894 forks, 256 open issues and last shipped 1.8 years ago. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 583% (132,233 vs 19,355 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Kap is written in TypeScript under MIT. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Kap 5%. 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 | Kap | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 19K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2024-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 894 |
| 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 Kap if
- You want the Kap feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Kap 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 Kap
Kap is an open source screen recorder for macOS, built with web technology and distributed as a native desktop application under the MIT license. The project is written in TypeScript and uses Electron and Next.js components in its stack, placing it within the macOS productivity and screen capture ecosystem rather than a browser extension or command line utility. Its public repository also identifies a related project named Aperture and a separate website repository, indicating that the recording application is part of a broader open source project structure.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Kap more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars and Kap has 19,355. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Kap free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and Kap under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Kap?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Kap 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, Excalidraw or Kap?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,233 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Kap if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.