head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Mole
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars, 15,326 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mole has 67,621 stars, 2,377 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 96% (132,233 vs 67,621 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Mole is written in Shell under GPL-3.0. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Mole 4%. 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 | Mole | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 68K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| 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 Mole if
- You want the Mole feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and Mole 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 Mole
Mole is an open source macOS utility that combines system cleanup, application management, and live monitoring into a single native app and CLI tool. It runs on macOS 12+ for both Intel and Apple Silicon, offering a unified interface for reclaiming disk space, uninstalling apps thoroughly, visualizing storage, and tracking real time system health. Built in Shell and licensed under GPL 3.0, it aggregates functionality found across several paid tools—CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus—into one binary.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Mole more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars and Mole has 67,621. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Mole free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and Mole under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Mole?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Mole in Shell. 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 Mole?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,233 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Mole if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.