head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Ray.so
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars, 15,326 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ray.so has 2,360 stars, 348 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 5,503% (132,233 vs 2,360 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Ray.so is written in TypeScript under MIT. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Ray.so 15%. 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 | Ray.so | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 348 |
| 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 Ray.so if
- You want the Ray.so feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Ray.so 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 Ray.so
Ray.so is the open source codebase behind ray.so, a collection of small web tools built by Raycast. The repository holds the source for a Next.js application that ships seven separate utilities under one roof: Code Images for turning source code into shareable pictures, Icon Maker for producing icons for Raycast Extensions, and five explorer tools that let visitors browse and import AI Prompts, AI Presets, Quicklinks, Snippets, and Themes. The project is written in TypeScript and released under the MIT license, and it lives in the JavaScript and React ecosystem, built on top of the Next.js framework.…
read the full Ray.so overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Ray.so more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars and Ray.so has 2,360. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Ray.so free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT and Ray.so under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Ray.so?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Ray.so 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 Ray.so?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,233 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Ray.so if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.